Nightmare in Mineral Town
by Beelzebub X
Summary: Twisted by his on nightmarish life, Jack has decided to get his revenge... The final Chapter, Redemption, is up. The nightmare ends tonight. 61 fans and counting Please Read and Review
1. Of Feathers and Apples

I'm sorry the chapters are so short. This was originally posted on a message board, and the chapters are restricted to the maximum length of a post, 4096 characters. I didn't feel like re-arranging the chapters, so this is how it is. I hope you enjoy it, everyone at the board sure did.

**Chapter 1: Of Feathers and Apples**

"Is today the day?" Jack thought out loud. He was sitting at his living room table, fiddling with a blue feather. Should he propose to his latest love today? Jack didn't know if he could muster up the courage. He had been turned down so many times before and wasn't sure if he could take another rejection.

Every time he thought he was finally going to get married to the girl of his dreams, he got crushed. Karen only liked him as a friend. Popuri thought he was pulling a prank. Ann was in love with Cliff. Elli considered Jack to be like her son. There was only one more girl left in town who might even possibly consider marrying him.

"Would Mary even consider marrying me?" Maybe, just maybe she might, but he couldn't wait much longer. The other day, Jack happened to stumble across Grey with his own blue feather. He had it held out in front of him, and was about to enter into the library when he got cold feet and quickly ran away. This was his only chance of living a happy life. It was a race between him and Grey. Who would be first to muster up the courage to propose?

"I'm not going to be left alone, I will propose to Mary, and she will accept! I will not let Grey get the best of me! I will not be alone for the rest of my life!" Jack jumped up, blue feather in hand, and ran to the door. He flung open the door and heard a loud thud. "Oh, um, hi there Won. Sorry about that."

Won glared at Jack "No problem, I only have one life to give in my humble position of door to door salesman."  
  
"I said I was sorry! Is there anything I can do for you, I'm in a hurry."

"Yes." Won pulled an apple out of his pocket, "Would you like to buy one of my apples? They aren't any ordinary apples. This one is a---"

"---Yeah sure whatever" Jack didn't have time for this. "How much is it?"  
  
"For a very special apple like this, 500g is a steal."

"Fine, I'll take it." Jack grabbed the apple out of Won's hand and stuffed a wad of cash back at him. "Keep the change!" Jack said as he ran off.

"Uh, thanks! I didn't think anyone, wait a sec, there is a 5000g bill in here, and look, a 1000g, and another, and another. I'll just treat that as a tip." Won smile smugly as he walked back to his shop with a slight swagger in his step.


	2. Thrice Short Changed

**Chapter 2: Thrice Short Changed**

Here he was, the library. Mary was inside. He could do this, he knew he could. Jack was going to walk in and propose. He held up the blue feather and was terrified by what he saw. When he was getting all frustrated with Won, he must have been clenching his fists. The blue feather was a mangled mess. He'd have to buy a new one. Good thing he had a big harvest yesterday, he had more than enough cash. Time to go shopping!

Jack dashed down to the store. He was about ready to fling open the door when he remembered what happened last time. With a deep breath, he opened the door. "Jeff, I need a blue feather, and now!"

"I'm sorry Jack, you'll have to wait a minute, I'm trying to help Lillia with her shopping. She took all the effort coming down here, it is the least I can do."

Lillia looked irritated, "Don't treat me like that Jeff. I'm fully capable of doing anything I want. That's why I came down here instead of sending Popuri."  
  
"But you are sick, I couldn't stand it if something happened to you because I neglected you."  
  
Jack couldn't stand it! Was everyone in the town out to stop him from getting married? Was everyone just trying to keep him away from his goal? "Look, I'm just going to leave my cash on the counter, okay?" He took his money out. Wait, where was it all? He had had some 15,000g, all that he had in his hand now was change. Won! That snake had taken all his money. Won had pick pocketed him. It was the only explanation. But there was no time for that now, he'd deal with Won and pay Jeff back later. Jack dumped the last of his money on the counter, grabbed a blue feather, and ran outside.

Finally he was ready, blue feather in hand, he could see the library down the road. He was ready. Jack was walking confidently down the road to his destiny, when the door to the mayor's house swung open. "Oh no," Jack said under his breath, "please, anything but him." The mayor walked through the door. "If I don't say anything, just walk straight by, maybe the mayor wouldn't stop me." The mayor turned around to close the door behind him. "Please just don't say anything to me, just walk right by me."

The mayor stepped out on the street and noticed Jack, "Hey Jack! How's it going on the farm?"

Jack wanted to say, shut up you fat blob and get out of my way, but he held his tongue, "It's okay I guess."

"Yeah... Nice weather isn't it?"  
  
Why the small talk? Why did the mayor need to waste Jack's time? "Oh, it's okay. Fine for growing crops."

"Yes it is, isn't it. Well... have you been making any friends?" 

Jack couldn't stand it anymore, "I'm sorry I have to go!" He pushed the mayor to the side, just in time to see Grey come out of the Library, practically dancing down the street. "No... he couldn't, please tell me he didn't!"

Jack ran down the street to the library, hoping above all else that he was wrong, praying to the Harvest Goddess that Grey didn't just do what Jack dreading that he did.


	3. Lies Hurt, but so Does the Truth

**Chapter 3: Lies Hurt, but so Does the Truth**

This was it, the moment of truth. Jack walked into the library. Mary was at her desk as usual, writing her novel. She set down her pen looked up at Jack. He stared at her unable to say anything. How could he do it? He wasn't able to do it.

"Hello Jack!" She sounded genuinely happy. Jack didn't think he'd ever heard her sound so happy before. Could it be that she liked him as much as he did? He had to propose.

"Mary will you marry me?" Jack blurted out, fumbling with the blue feather and accidentally dropping it. Mary stared back at Jack. She was shocked beyond words. Jack would have done anything for her to just end the silence. Why did she torture him this way? "Please Mary, please marry me, please..."

Mary felt sorry for Jack, but there was nothing she could do, she'd just have to tell him the truth, "... I had no idea that you felt this way about me. But, I'm engaged to Grey. He just proposed to me minutes ago."

No, she couldn't have. He must have her. He swore it. "You don't have to marry him! I love you more than he ever could. Just say the word, and we can be together forever. Turn away from Grey. Don't make this mistake. I need you to marry me!"

"I'm sorry Jack, but I just don't feel that way about you. We can still be friends, can't we?" Mary felt like crying. She didn't like doing this, hurting people like this. She wished she could say anything else, but the truth was the truth. Lying about it would only make things worse in the end.

Jack answered quietly "Yes, we can still be friends... we can still be friends. We can still be friends..." He head slowly rolled down as he kept repeating himself. Looking down at the ground, he saw the feather lying there. Like all his dreams, it had fallen right where it had begun. "we can still be friends..."  
  
"Jack, are you okay?" This was all to much for her. Mary had never been this mean to anyone in her life, and she wasn't even trying to. She felt miserable. A tear slowly crawled it's way down her cheek. "Please Jack, snap out of it." She stood up and walked over to Jack. Standing in front of him, she placed her hand under his chin and raised his face up to look at her. "Jack, please try to understand..."

"... I understand... I understand everything..." Suddenly great rage swelled up in Jack's voice, "We can never be friends again!" He slapped her hand away. "I hate you! I hate everybody! Leave me alone!" Jack stomped down hard on the blue feather and twisted his foot, grinding it into the ground. "We can never be friends again!" He turned around and ran out of the library.

Mary gently rubbed her wrist where Jack had hit her. Today had started off so wonderful. She sat down at her desk, buried her face in her hands and let the tears pour down, unable to contain herself any longer. "Jack... Why? I'm so sorry... please forgive me..."


	4. Confession Session

**Chapter 4: Confession Session**

Jack wandered around Mineral Town in a daze. Why did everyone hate him? What did he ever do to them? His life was miserable because of them. They did everything they could to ruin his life. He hated them. Jack loathed them. Why did he ever come to Mineral Town? Chasing a dream girl which he'll never find, trying to relive happy childhood memories. A light rain began falling. Figures, matches his mood pretty well.

Jack passed by the winery. Duke, stupid, so what if he was young, why wouldn't he sell him some alcohol? He could sure use a drink right about now. Jack came to inn and spat at it. Stupid Ann, I love Cliff, why don't you go get a room? There was the hospital, Jack kicked up a cloud of dust at it. Elli, he wasn't her son, why did she turn him down? It was that doctor wasn't it, she loved him all along. He continued walking down towards the church. That jerk Zack, always flashing off his muscles because he is so much better than the rest of us.

The only person in the town who hadn't wronged him was Carter. That was who Jack was going to see. Carter was the closest thing to a friend he had. He'd be inside since it was raining. Jack pushed open the church doors which let out a great groan. He looked down the long lines of pews to Carter's empty pulpit. He must be in the confession booth. That was okay with Jack, since that was basically what he was coming to do anyway. He walked up to the confession booth, his footsteps ringing out on the cold stone floor.

Carter greeted him, "Hello Jack, I hope you are in a pleasant mood today."  
  
"Unfortunately no, I'm quite miserable." Jack took a seat.

"I know how you feel inside Jack, and I must tell you it isn't healthy. You come to me all the time with this rage that you just keep building up. One day, you are going to pop, and then where will you be? Anyway, what has upset you today?"

"I went to go propose to Mary," Carter could hear the anger start to rise in Jack's voice "but every single person who could got in my way. Those horrible wretched fiends ruined my life again. By the time I managed to wade through all of them, Grey," Jack spat his name, "had already proposed to Mary. I was just one minute short of being happy for once, and they ruined it. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them..." Jack was fuming, almost shaking, just barely able to contain his anger.

"Jack please, calm down. How do you know that getting married will make you happy? Maybe happiness will come when you learn to accept your status in life. Maybe you might be able to bond with the other villagers better if you weren't so hateful? Are you even sure that Mary would have accepted you proposal if you had reached her first?"

"Of course she would have! Who's side are you on anyway?"

"I take nobody's side, I only try to help you see what others might be thinking."

"I can clearly see what others are thinking! They are all out to get me! They all hate me, and I hate them. That's the way it has been, that is the way it's going to be. I wish there was something I could do about it."

"There is Jack, but it is you who have to do what you have to do. Do not expect others to bend over backwards to be nice to you. Only you can bring about what you want."

"Who asked you anyway? I don't want any of you stupid priestly words. I want you to help me! Why won't you help me?" 

"I am trying to Jack. But ultimately, only you can help yourself."  
  
"Bull! You are just like all the rest! You don't care about me, you only want to make me miserable!" Jack flew out of the confession booth, slamming the door so hard it came off it's hinges. Carter could hear his footsteps leave again, not unlike when he came in.

He sighed, "Jack, why do you do this to yourself? Why do you make your life so hard? I wish I could make you understand, but it seems I never will..."


	5. Cold Kind Heart of Steel

I know I don't write many author notes. I pump these out fast so I write notes are only when I feel they are important. I case anyone is wondering, all that has happened so far has been nothing by introduction. Now the true plot begins...

**Chapter 5: Cold Kind Heart of Steel**

Jack had found his way back home after several more hours of meaningless drifting. He tried to work with his crops, but his heart just wasn't into it. It made him sick to think that he was nurturing new life into the world, happy new life to mock his own dejected life. Besides, in the rain, there was no reason to water his crops.

Perhaps he should go cut wood. That was always a good way to vent his anger. Jack hefted his axe up on his shoulder and went south into the woods.

There was a good stump. Jack spit in his hands to get a better grip. He took hold of the axe, adjusting his fingers a bit on the handle, and let rip. "This is for Won! Taking all my money!" He emphasized each word with a swing of the axe. The mangled stump lay before him. Time for another. "This is for Mary! Delighting in my anguish!" He could just imagine that the stump was her head that he was splitting open. Ripping apart her head and letting the evil within her seep out. "This is for Carter! Useless bastard!" The third stump shattered quickly under his fierce swings. "This is for everyone who has ever wronged me!" The last stump was little more than splinters by the time he was down with it.

Jack wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He was exhausted and needed to take a break. A nice nap by the lake would be nice. Dragging the axe behind him, he walked down to the lake.

"What should I do, what should I do?" Jack knelt down by the lake and splashed some cool water on his face. He was getting a little hungry. "Oh right, the apple!" Even if that worm Won had stolen his money, at least he had something to eat right now. Jack sat down and fumbled around in his rucksack and pulled out the apple. It looked so juicy and sweet, his mouth was watering. Jack's stomach growled, well how could he say no? He took a nice big bite, and spit it out quickly.

"What is this! It's wax! That bastard sold me a worthless wax fruit! I hate him so much!" Jack flung the apple as hard as he could into the lake. What could he do... What could he do?

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw a small rabbit. So innocent, with no fear at all. Could he? Jack reached into his rucksack and pulled out his scythe. It would be so easy. The rabbit hopped a bit closer and sniffed at a blade of grass. He would never see it coming. The rabbit chewed a bit on the grass. 

Jack slowly raised the scythe over his head. Could he? Would he? There was a little brown spot on the back of the rabbit, calling to Jack. It was like a little target. If he just... The sunlight glinted off of the polished metal of the scythe. To skewer it wouldn't be hard at all. If he only just... Jack grunted as he swung the scythe as fast as he could over his head, point down at the rabbit. It just had enough time to look up and see the blade whizzing down towards it.

The blade stuck right through Jack's target and buried itself several inches into the ground. The handle still quivered slightly from the force of the blow. The once little brown patch of fur was quickly become red. Jack looked at it with curiosity. The rabbit's hide legs was still twitching. "Why are you still trying to run little rabbit? Don't you realize you aren't living anymore?"

It slowly dawn upon Jack, the words that Carter had said, "I have to do what I have to do... Only I can bring about what I want..." He looked back at the blade and pulled it loose. In a dreamlike daze, he washed it in the lake, removing the signs of blood. He could make himself happy. What was once his nightmare would become their nightmare.


	6. Cloaked in Darkness

Oh sorry now, but I have to boost the story's rating to R. I've been told by several people on the board that this chapter is definitely R rated, so I can't disagree with such unity.

**Chapter 6: Cloaked in Darkness**

Night had fallen. Jack had spent the rest of the day preparing for what would be his first nightly nightmare run. His plan had to be executed perfectly, his victim had to be executed perfectly. He had polished his tools up all shiny and made himself a cloak to better hide him in the dark of the night.

It had taken him a while, but Jack had finally decided on who he would kill and what would be his preferred tool for tonight. When the church bell rang nine times, that would be his cue, that would be when he would shroud himself in his cloak and go out to strike swift vengeance. All he had to do was wait...

Over on the other side of Mineral town, down at the beach, Won snuck out of his and Zack's house. He always went for a swim at night, he liked the exhilarating feeling of the cold water flowing over his body. After a quick look around to see that no one was around, he took off his shirt and pants and waded out into the water.

Won sighed as the waves slowly fell across his nude body. Nothing quite so nice as a skinny dip. Off in the distance, he heard the church bell begin ringing. Nine, that means everyone was going home, he was safe to do whatever he wanted. He took a deep breath and dove underneath the pitch black water and just swam for the heck of it.

A while later, Won had grown tired of swimming, and just floated on his back looking up at the moonless night. A new moon always sent a shiver down Won's spine, it seemed almost ominous without it's soft light shining down on him.

In the silent night, Won was easily able to hear several quick clicking noises. The sound, Won knew it well, it was the sound of somebody's shoes on the stone steps coming onto the beach. He smiled smugly, "Hey, maybe that was one of the pretty ladies coming to visit old Won, maybe give me a little fun..."

Won swam back to shore and walked out. "Hello?" he asked, but nobody answered. It was too dark to see anything, so he listened as hard as he could for the sweet footfalls of a pretty lady. "I know you are here, there is no reason to be afraid, it's just me, good old Wonny."

Won strained his ears and heard what he was looking for. A very soft muffled sound of someone walking across the sand, and a gentle rustling which he knew could be nothing else but a girl taking off her clothing. Oh lucky day, he thought, tonight he was going to get a little action with a mystery girl! He could barely contain his excitement. The sound slow moved circled around him. "Where are you going my girl? Why won't you speak to me?" Won waited for an answer, but got none. "Can you at least tell me your name?" The sound stopped right behind him.

"My name is Retribution!" Jack called out as he swung around his hammer hard at Won's head. Jack heard the sound of Won's skull cracking and several teeth being shattered. "I am the black angel!" Won gasped and feel to his knees, unable to speak. "That is right, kneel before me, like the dog you are!" Jack cried out as he swung the hammer again. He could feel Won's head cave in like it was little more than paper.

Jack stood over Won's dead body. He held the hammer out over Won's head, holding the very end of the handle and letting the end swing freely. "Justice has been served." And with that Jack dropped the hammer. It crushed into Won's head, destroying him, removing his identity, making him have a face no longer.

Jack reached down and took the hammer and washed it in the ocean. He began to leave but he remembered something. Jack walked over to Won's clothes and pulled his wallet out of the pocket. "I had forgotten that you owed me."

Walking away, hammer clinched fist in hand, the light wind gently caressed Jack's cloak, creating a soothing rustling sound. 


	7. Tomorrow's Aftermath

I decided to change the story back to PG13. One chapter doesn't make a story R. It is a regular and continuous barrage of bad things which make a story R. Enjoy the next chapter!

**Chapter 7: Tomorrow's Aftermath**

Zack searched through his cabinets for something to eat. It was early morning, and he still was tired. Where was everything? No food anywhere. He'd have to go to the store today. Well he might as well go now. He scratched his empty belly as he opened the door to his house.

The world passed by Zack in an instant. Something wasn't right. There was no sound of seagulls in the air, and there was this smell. Zack's brain just wouldn't register it. There was red everywhere. Why was everything red? What was going on? Why couldn't he understand? There was some sort of lump among all the red, slightly moving as the waves tried to push it into a pile of shipping crates.

"That's... What? Is that Won?" The pounding in Zack's head wouldn't stop. That was blood that was everywhere, saturating the sand. The overwhelming stench of blood flooded his nostrils. "I, no... Won..." Zack fell forward to his knees and heaved up the contents of his stomach. He took a deep breath and once again the smell of blood hit him. Zack dry retched till he was out of breath.

What happened? Zack's head was spinning. It was incomprehensible. He's lifelong friend, gone, murdered so violently. Stumbling, he climbed back up and ran as fast as he could away from the beach.

What was he going to do? He had to find the Mayor or Harris. They would know what to do. Weak in the stomach, it was all he could do to keep from falling again. Zack ran, barely able to keep from panicking. He had to keep a level head. Harris could be anywhere in town, so he had to go to the Mayor.

The Mayor's house, right next door to Jeff's store. Funny how he ended up so close to where he had originally wanted to go. Zack burst into the Mayor's house and tripped on the doorframe.

The Mayor stared down at his surprise visitor, all sprawled out across the floor. "What in the name of the Harvest Goddess is going on here? Zack, you look like you have seen a ghost!"  
  
"I might as well have," Zack panted heavily. He tried to stand back up, but his legs buckled and he crashed back down to the ground.

"My you are a mess. Please sit down and tell me what is going on."

"You don't understand. I have to... Won murdered..." Zack gave up on standing and just laid there trying to catch his breath.

"What in the world? Are you sure Zack? We must take precautions immediately!" The Mayor helped him sit up and held a cup of tea up to Zack's lips. "You need to drink and get your strength back, I'm going to need your help."

"What do you want me to do?" Zack said after he managed to get himself under control.

"I want you to go throughout town and tell everyone what has happened. To be certain that no harm comes to anyone else, tell everyone to stay in groups of at least three, with two able bodied people per group. That way if the murderer decides to try something again there is guaranteed to be somebody to at least give a fight. Then get them all to come to Rose Square. If we stay in a large group, we should be able to protect ourselves. Then we can work about figuring out who the murderer is."

"I'll do my best!" He was right to have come to the Mayor. Zack was still a bit weak in the knees but he managed to walk without falling. He'll go get Ellen and Stu first, they had absolute no way to protect themselves. Just please, he wanted nothing more than that they wouldn't find any more dead bodies.


	8. Through Their Minds

****Yay! A double update! Well, sort of, you'll get Chapter 9 later tonight, so that's close enough.**  
**

**  
Chapter 8: Through Their Minds**

In the middle of Rose Square, Zack walked up to the Mayor "I think everyone is here. What's your count?"  
  
The Mayor glanced over at Harris who was standing guard at the beach entrance "I didn't notice anyone missing either. Good, it appears there was only one murder. We need to figure out who did it."

Zack couldn't believe what the Mayor had just said, "What do you mean? It's obvious who the murder is! There is only one person in the town who is messed up enough to do this horrible thing, and that is Jack."

They passed by Harris as they continued walking around the perimeter of the crowd. He overheard Zack, "Actually, I have my doubts about that."  
  
"What in the world are you talking about? It's obviously Jack! You're supposed to protect us and you are going to defend a murderer?" Zack was beyond furious. This was so wrong. How could Harris try and defend Jack?  
  
The Mayor saw May and Stu's little game of tag approach them and he lowered is voice, "I know what you mean Harris. I wanted to believe it was Jack because that is the easiest answer, but something just doesn't seem right. I just can't place my finger on it."

"It takes a trained mind to notice what exactly was wrong with this picture. Do you know how Won was killed? It appears to be three very powerful blows to the head with a rock which crushed his skull. There are two things wrong with this. One, Jack is a farmer right? Then why would he use a rock as a murder weapon? Plenty of his tools, such as a scythe, would make much better weapons."

Harris wiped the sweat off his forehead. He really didn't want to say this, but he had to, "Second, I don't think Jack has the physical strength to actually put that much force behind a rock to crush Won's skull that thoroughly. There are only three people in this town with that kind of strength, Cliff, Gotz, and... you Zack."

Zack stood there stunned. This wasn't happening. No, he was joking. Harris had to be joking. He stammered out the quickest response he could give, "How can you accuse me of killing my dear friend Won? I was his only real friend. I'd never hurt Won!"

Harris sighed, "That is the exact problem. You were the only person who was close to Won. Most murders are committed by those close to the victim. You are my number one suspect."

Carter was sitting on a bench a short bit away listening in as Zack continued to try and persuade Harris that he was innocent. It was so horrible. Carter had always feared something like this would happen, but he'd always sort of hoped that he was actually getting through to Jack. It was the only possible person. Jack was the murderer, he was so certain. Then why was he so overjoyed to hear that Harris suspected Zack?

He was a priest, he should stand for what was right, not protect a murderer. But he couldn't do that. Somehow he had to get through to Jack. He stared off through the crowd to where Jack was sitting quietly by himself, his back against a fence. Why did you do this Jack? It wasn't right. Something so wasn't right. It made him nauseous to think about it, but the alternative made him sicker. He couldn't stand by and watch Jack be condemned.

Carter interrupted Zack's tirade of innocence, "Excuse me, Harris, I couldn't but help overhearing your conversation. I have been counseling Jack for a long time now. He shares his innermost feelings with me. Jack isn't a bad person at heart, he really and truly isn't. And for whatever it is worth, I do not believe that Jack killed Won."


	9. Restless Night

Hmm... Is it just me or am I getting less creative with Chapter titles?

**Chapter 9: Restless Night**

The rest of the day had gone by uneventfully, thank goodness. curled up in her sheets on the hard floor in the back room. Like most of the people in town, she had temporarily moved into the inn for the night. After all, they would be safer together. She had done her duty to the town today, when she overheard Harris accusing Zack of the murder, she made sure everybody knew.

It didn't sit right with her, Manna had thought for certain that Jack was the murder, but then again, Harris was a professional. Zack and Jack were two of the few people who hadn't decided to sleep in the inn. It was no wonder though, people were picking sides, and pretty much the only thing anyone was talking about was why they thought which of the two was the murderer.

Manna gave Duke a half hug, just to help comfort herself. It was a bit crowded, but it was warm and safe. She was glad for her safety.

Upstairs, Mary was having trouble sleeping. Everything was so overwhelming to her. She quietly slipped out of her blankets, being careful not to wake her parents, and crept downstairs. There were so many people sitting around at the tables talking, others, like her, that could not sleep. Mary sat down at an empty table and cried.

Somebody placed a hand on her shoulder and Mary jumped. She quickly looked up to see Carter, with an obviously forced yet still warming smile upon his face. Mary fell into his arms and cried on his chest. It was too much, just too much for her to bear

Carter held Mary, doing his best to comfort her. She had lost all control of herself and was shaking vehemently. To help calm her sorrow, he quietly hummed a little lullaby his mother used to sing to him, and slowly but surely, Mary calmed down. He knew this had to be hard on her, and this was the first chance she had to release what was inside of her.

When she had finally regained her composure, Carter kissed her on the forehead, "I may not be in my confession booth, but I will make an exception now. So tell me child, confess to me all that is bothering you, and I will do my best to alleviate your pain.

Mary held him close to her, "Oh Carter, I think I may have driven Jack to do this. I'm so afraid that it was me that pushed him over the edge. I didn't want to hurt him. I don't want him to hurt. It's my fault Won is dead. It's all my fault." She started crying again.

Carter was shocked, but it wasn't like he shouldn't have expected this. "Mary, it is not your fault at all. Look at me." He took her face in his hands and forced her to look into his eyes, "I mean it, look at me! You did nothing wrong. There is no blood upon your hands."

"But that isn't what it feels like! I feel like I'm all alone now, that everyone is blaming me. Why did I have to mess everything up?"

Carter put as much warmth in his voice as he could, "You are not all alone child, nobody is blaming you. Everyone who knows you loves you."  
  
"Not Jack... he said he hated me..."  
  
"What Jack said he said in anger, he does not truly hate you. I give you all the love I can give, but if that is not enough, I have only one choice. Under the circumstances, I will forgive you if you go and sleep with your future husband Grey, but keep everything clean now. Just take comfort in his love."  
  
Grey did love her? Didn't he? Mary felt happiness begin to bubble up inside of her again. She put her arms around Carter again, but this time in happiness, "Thank you Carter! You are the best priest ever! I mean it!"  
  
Carter watched as Mary skipped off towards where Grey was sleeping. Sometimes he had too much of soft heart for his own good. He sighed. Just like with Jack...


	10. Nighttime's Guardians

Four chapters later and someone finally tells me I have a typo in this chapter. I really wish people would tell me about this things!

**Chapter 10: Nighttime Guardians**

Jack was walking down the street to the Inn. They actually thought they would protect themselves by gathering in one spot, where they would all be within easy reach. He twirled the hammer around in his hands pretending he was smashing somebody's head in. The plan had been changed, but it was no big deal, in fact, it would be a much more thorough revenge this way. Tonight Jack would deliver justice twice that or maybe even more than he had last night, and they were helpless to stop him. He pulled his black cloak close around him, taking warmth in it's shadows...

Carter was all alone. He was the only person who had not yet even attempted to sleep. Would there be another murder tonight? The more he paced the harder it was for him to even consider sleeping. He was too nervous to sleep, but it did him no good to keep worrying. Maybe this was pointless. Maybe he ought to just go home to the church. He'd certainly be able to sleep in his own bed...

Harris woke up with a jolt. Dozing off when there was a murder on the loose was definitely not a good idea. He was supposed to be guarding the inn. It was his duty to protect everyone inside. It was getting late; it was well past midnight. Harris yawned. He had to stay awake at his post. As long as he protected the door of the inn, no murderer could hope to get in. He leaned against the doorframe and did his best not to nod off.

The door behind him opened up, quickly waking Harris back up. He couldn't keep falling asleep like this! He turned around to be meet with Carter.

"Harris, do you mind if I go home? I really can't sleep out here on the floor. I guess I'm just a creature of habit."  
  
"Well, you can go back to the church if you like, though I wouldn't recommend it, and I would prefer it if you stayed here and helped me out."  
  
Carter saw how weary Harris looked, "Alright, so how can I help? It's better than just sleeping on it anyway."  
  
"Give me another half hour, and I'd like to switch guard shifts with you. Just try to relax inside, and I'll come get you in a little bit. It will be sort of like a double guard."

"Alright, but you stay awake now. As a priest, it is my job to help the citizens of the town. I'd be glad too," Carter went back inside with a bit more purpose. Peculiar, it was usually his job to make people feel better, but it felt really nice to have somebody do it for him in kind...

Jack was well hidden, and watched as the door closed behind Carter. Now was his chance. This would secure his innocence for a while to come. All those that accused Zack would die, all those who helped that idea thrive would die. Nobody would suspect him for a long time.

Harris slowly nodded back off. Jack watched as he kept waking back up with the occasional jolt. Slowly though, he kept staying asleep for longer and longer periods of time. It was finally the right moment. Jack quietly crept up upon the sleeping Harris, hammer gripped firmly in hand. He had to do this exactly right.

Jack let the hammer fall to his side and slowly swung it back and forth. With all his might, Jack brought the hammer up under Harris's chin. Harris instantly awoke to the excruciating pain of his jaw being forced up into his skull. He looked deep into the mad eyes of the black cloaked figure, and tried to scream, but let out little more than a muffled cry. His lower jaw was firmly wedged into his skull, he was unable to open his mouth to let out the slightest call for help. He had barely had time to comprehend this before the hammer came back around for another blow, striking him squarely on the side of his head. As Harris fell to the ground, barely holding onto consciousness, the cloak around the dark figure fluttered loose slightly, revealing Jack's horridly contorted face.

Harris laid on his back on the ground, unable to move from the pain, realizing the futility of any hope. He accepted his ironic fate. How he had defended the one who was about to kill him. Harris watched as Jack brought the hammer up over his head. So that was how he did it, it wasn't a rock after all. With tear filled eyes he watched as the hammer came plummeting down towards his chest. The pain was excruciating as rib by rib was shattered with a short instant. Harris's heart burst open from the pressure and blood gushed from his mouth. He was dead before the blow had even finished.


	11. Dancing Shadows

**Chapter 11: Dancing Shadows**

Jack stood there over the bloody mess which was once Harris. The smell of it filled his nostrils. It was exciting and fun. Time to go continue the hunt and execute those who deserved it. He smiled as he crept around the building. Those that had accused Zack will die. Securing his safety would be simple. Death to all of them...

Mary placed her hand on Grey's side. He was sleeping fine, but she still wasn't. She curled up as close as she could to him, trying to get warm. Grey laid there on his side with his back to her. Even with him, she still felt lonely. They loved each other, but he did not respond to her touch. He just laid there still. Her hand slowly moved up and down as he breathed. Mary hummed the little tune that Carter had sang to her in hopes of falling asleep...

Manna too was having trouble sleeping. Every time she fell asleep, dark dreams would enter her mind and she would wake up in a cold sweet. Nightmares of someone coming to kill her. Duke would probably laugh at her foolishness. She tried to laugh it off too, but her own laughter scared her. This wasn't like her, she needed to get away...

Carter was getting sick of sitting around doing nothing. He was about ready to take over guard duty from Harris whether he wanted him to or not. But before that, there was something very important he had to do. Carter got up out of his chair and hurried off. He had to go to the restroom...

Mary stared at the ceiling. Her parents were sleeping so deeply upstairs. She sighed. It seemed like she was the only one having trouble sleeping. She half sat up and looked around at all the townsfolk wrapped up in their blankets. Everyone looked so peaceful.

She let out a gasp. Mary could have sworn she just saw a shadow move across the wall. Could it be the murderer got into the inn? Her eyes flitted around the room and saw who it was. A dark figure was creeping around, tiptoeing quietly, stepping over one body after another. The person stubbed their foot and stifled a yelp. Mary quickly hid herself under her blankets and buried her face next to Grey, trying hard not to shake. She prayed that the man stayed far away from her. Mary cried silently into Grey's back. She didn't want to die...

Carter exited the restroom with a sigh of contentment. That was much better. Tonight wasn't going so badly. It looked like they had nothing to fear from Jack anymore. Carter bit his tongue and cursed himself. He wasn't supposed to think about that. What if he let something like that slip while talking? He couldn't let that happen. All Carter had to do was keep his head about him, and Jack would see the err of his ways.

It had begun to rain. Well, now Carter surely didn't want to take the guard up. Time to play a little game of hooky. He'd just stay upstairs. The rain began to quicken in short order. It had become a regular thunderstorm. Carter never like heavy rains like this, they always seemed ominous.

Thunder boomed, and lightning ripped apart the sky. Carter held back a scream. During the last flash of lightning, he could have sworn he saw a shadow move across the window. "That's nonsense. I'm sure it was just an owl or something seeking shelter from the rain under the roof." Somehow though, saying it didn't seem to reassure him at all. Really, like the murderer would really scale the side of the building.

But what if he did? What if the murderer was going to sneak into the inn through a second story window? It may be the coward's way out, but there was only one option. He had to find somewhere to hide, but the question was where to hide. He peeked in each of the inn's rooms to make sure everyone was sound asleep. Then he scurried back into the restroom and locked the door. 


	12. Not a Drop to Drink

I laugh at anyone who thinks this is going to be the climax of my story.

**Chapter 12: Not a Drop to Drink**

Manna cursed herself silently as she sat nursing her foot. She had really walloped it hard. It would be a wonder if it didn't swell up. After a few minutes, Manna stood back up carefully and began to make her way through the maze of sleeping bodies once again. She tiptoed carefully; her foot was still a little sore. Imagine, all this hassle just to get a glass of water...

Mary had stopped shaking, but when she heard the footsteps resume, she quickly buried herself back into the warm safety of Grey. But, why then did she feel so cold and vulnerable? The near noiseless padding of the footsteps came closer and closer. Mary held on to Grey tightly. He continued to sleep like a log.

To Mary, Grey seemed to possess even less life than her old teddy bear she used to have. Had she been younger, she would have taken comfort in his presence just like with her old teddy. But this was nothing. He might as well not even be there. If his body wasn't moving slightly as he breathed, Mary would have reckoned him dead. She tried to quell that thought quickly, but it was no use. A quiver ran down her spine and she slowly pulled away from him. He was alive of course, but still... Mary curled herself up into a ball over to the side... It just didn't feel right.

Mary would face her death alone, but she would stand up and face it head on. For once in her life she would stand up and fight for what she wanted. If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting. It would be so romantic, just like in the books. Standing up face to face with death and giving it her all. She would be remembered for her valor. The footsteps were almost upon her. She was ready. As soon as he reached down to get her, she would jump and fight her best.

The steps stopped right next to her ear and Mary froze. Fear gripped her. She couldn't move a single muscle in her body. She stared hopelessly at the ground. Some hero she was. Then the footsteps resumed on the other side of her. The murderer just walked right by her. She was safe. Mary wasn't going to die today. She could have taken him. Mary knew it. The guy was a coward and knew he couldn't fight off a raging Mary. Yeah, that was it...

Carter sat there in the bathroom and looked in the mirror. This was shameful. He was so much better than this. Here he was, the priest of Mineral Town. It was his duty to help the citizens of the town. He may not be Harris, but he sure was Carter, and that was very good. Harris! Carter had forgotten all about him. He had promised to trade shifts with him.

He crept over to the door and peeked out. "Good," Carter said to himself, "Nobody there." He was more confident in himself now. Imaging, getting spooked by shadows. Now how childish could he get?

Manna was in the kitchen finally. There were a lot of people in the Inn tonight. This was absurd. Maybe she would just sleep in the kitchen tonight. She walked over to the sink and fumbled around for a glass. She yawned deeply as the she turned the faucet. As the water filled her glass, she thought she heard a door give a slight creak as it opened and was quickly shut. She took a sip of water and turned around...

Carter began walking back down the stairs. Getting scared by lightning and shadows, that's just plain ridiculous. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Something wasn't right. Something was very wrong. A cold breeze ran across his cheek. Over there, was a quickly growing puddle of water. Why? A window was open. The murderer snuck in through a window while Carter was upstairs! He went over and shut the window against the roaring storm outside. Footprints, wet footprints. They led somewhere. Where did they go? Carter quickly followed them. Into the back room! The murderer was in the back room where everyone was sleeping. And Mary! Mary was back there! If Jack was the murderer like Carter thought, he'd certainly go after Mary!

Jack quickly brought his hammer up into Manna's face as she turned around. Blow after blow he rained down quickly. He finished her off just like he had done with Harris. He really was getting quite good at this. As Jack stood over Manna's broken body he laughed silently to himself. Try and make up a rumor about this one and spread it around why don't you?


	13. Blood is Thicker than Water

Here is another chapter for you, now with more heart warming violence.

**Chapter 13: Blood is Thicker than Water**

Jack stood there of Manna's mutilated corpse. That was very good. Now it was time for his next victim. Behind Jack heard the sound of a door opening. He quickly wrapped his black cloak back around him tight and hid into the shadows. Caution was wise and patience is a virtue. His next victim had arrived...

Carter entered into the kitchen. It was eerily quiet. Something should be going on, he just knew it. The murderer was back in here somewhere. Though for all Carter knew, the murderer may have already gone through and killed everyone in their sleep and left. Carter hated to even think that way. How could he justify hoping that he might be safe at the cost of everyone else's life?

Carter slowly walked forth across to the counter. There knife that he could use for protection lying there. He almost slipped in a puddle of water. Carter looked down and says that it wasn't water. It was little river of blood. He looked up and gasped in horror at what he saw. The trail led back to a horribly grotesque form that was once the sweet, kind hearted Manna. He stumbled backwards in shock...

Now was his chance, Jack thought. He quickly moved out of his hiding place and rammed his elbow into Carter's back and brought his hammer around to crush Carter's skull. Jack paused though as he saw what unfolded. Carter, trying to regain his balance from the blow dealt to him, completely lost his footing, slipped on the blood and fell down. There was an earsplitting crack as the back of his head hit the sharp corner of the counter.

Jack knelt down in the blood beside Carter's limp body. He rapped his hammer lightly on his head. Well, that was easier than was expected. He put his hand behind Carter's head and gently propped up his body in a manner almost like he sleeping. Jack leaned down and whispered into Carter's ear, "Sleep tight dark priest of the night. Vengeance has been served" He wiped the blood from his hands off onto Carter's robes, but it did little good... His robes were already saturated with blood.

Jack stood and walked away from the scene. Tonight's revenge was complete, and it was delicious. His robes twirled around him as he left the building. Tomorrow would be another delightfully fun day.


	14. Call upon the Doctor

**Chapter 14: Call upon the Doctor**

Zack walked through the woods at the outskirts of town. It was early in the morning and it was already the worst day of his life. He had gotten up early to go and see how the villagers had spent the night at the hotel. It was to his horror that he saw the massacred body of Harris lying right by the front door. There was nothing he could do. Nobody would believe he was innocent anymore...

Mary woke up and stretched. It was a miracle that she finally fallen asleep after all that happened last night. She looked around and saw that a crowd was gathering over in the kitchen. Mary tried to wake Grey up to go see with her, but he still slept soundly no matter what she did. Aggravated, Mary growled and ripped the blankets away from Grey. He rolled across the floor and responded with an very loud stubborn snore.

Mary huffed and stormed away to go see what was happening in the kitchen. Something was very wrong. The doctor rushed in through the door followed by the mayor, then Jack. The crowd pulled apart to let them through. Mary caught a glimpse through the crack and immediately wished she hadn't. She sat down and cried. Dear Carter and Manna killed? It wasn't right...

The doctor examined the two bodies carefully. Never in all his years had he seen anything like these murders, nothing had ever prepared him for anything remotely like this. Even now, he was still fighting back the urge to run away. It was beyond horrible to have to touch them. It sent chills up and down his spine. Even his well practiced professional detachment from his patients did little to help him now. He placed two fingers to Manna's neck and felt for a pulse. Somehow, he felt everyone in the room already knew what he was going to say, "She is dead."

With a sigh, the doctor moved over to Carter. It hurt so bad to do this. To get everyone's hopes somewhat rekindled then shoot them down. He brought his face back to it's normal state of coldness. He had to remain professional. He checked for Carter's pulse and like before, "He's..." the doctor felt something. There it was again, it was really faint. "He's not dead! But he's just barely alive! Quick somebody, um, rip up a shirt, I need something to help bind his injured head!" He was in a virtual panic...  
  
A terrified look crossed Jack's face for a split second, but he quickly composed himself. It didn't seem like anybody had noticed. He quickly took off his shirt and ripped it into several strips to hand to the doctor. "Please, you have to save Carter! He was my best friend." A tear rolled down Jack's face...

Mary crawled through the crowd upon hearing this to see Carter closer. She couldn't stand the thought of Carter being dead. She wanted him to live so badly. Finally getting a clear view of the scene, she nearly gasped. The mayor was trying his best to keep everyone back from getting in the doctor's way. The doctor was carefully wrapping Carter's head in Jack's shredded clothes. Jack was... wow he had some good muscles under that shirt... weeping over Carter...

Mary snuck past the mayor and put a hand on Jack's shoulder, "It will be okay Jack. I'm sure Carter will be fine."

Jack stared at Mary blankly, "Yeah, I guess he will... Hey mayor, I want to know... Since Harris is no longer with us," Most everyone gasped. Apparently nobody had told everybody in the building yet about Harris. "Sorry about that, Harris was murdered too. Anyway, I would like to take command of this case. I want to bring Zack to justice for hurting Carter. I want the one who hurt Carter damned forever."

The mayor took a step back, "Harsh words there Jack, but true I suppose. There is nothing left to do but admit the truth. Zack was the murderer and he tried to kill all those who accused him. It appears that nothing will stop him. I won't give you exclusive rights though Jack, almost everyone has been hurt here tonight in someway. Therefore I give license to everyone in town to kill Zack if there is no other way. One more death of a criminal, no matter how horrible it is to say it, is better than the death of many more innocents."


	15. He is the One

Well, I'm back to pounding out one of these things each day.  
**  
**

**Chapter 15: He is the One**

Jack smiled to himself as he sat in his home, sharpening his scythe. Wasn't he a wily one? Now all he'd have to do is make sure that Zack was never found and he could kill to his heart's content. Just make sure that Zack was never seen or heard from again. It would be that easy...

Mary sat by Carter's bed in the hospital. The doctor had told her that he seemed stable, but that there was no way of telling what sort of problems might have come from his head injury. He may have and probably did suffer permanent brain damage. By now, not even that thought could bring another tear to Mary's eyes. She simply had already cried all the tears that she was able to cry.

Jack had stayed by Mary's side for a while, as had Popuri and Jeff, but by now they all had left to go back on with their lives. The only other person still with her was Cliff. But he just sat there, unmoving, staring at Carter. It was so sad. Stu and May had wanted to see Carter too, but they weren't allowed to. Now, the only thing that broke up the day was when Elle came in from time to time to check up on Carter's condition.

Mary was infuriated with Grey. They had a huge fight when he refused to come sit with her by Carter. He had said that she was an overly sensitive fool for wanting to sit with that vegetable Carter, and that she shouldn't want to sit with other guys anyway since she had him. Grey was just chauvinistic jerk. He actually thought that she was his possession. For the first time in her life, Mary acted without forethought. She broke up their engagement right there on the spot. She called off the wedding. And she was glad that she did.

Mary wished Jack were still here. She wanted to apologize to him. It was wrong of her to have ever thought that he could have killed Won. It was eating her up inside and she just had to let it out. She just had to tell Jack, and was determined to do so the next time they met. He was so brave going to stand up to Zack like that. He gave that noble speech while he stood there. To Mary, he looked like the hero out of a novel. She couldn't actually be falling for Jack? Could she? He did look particularly handsome standing there bare-chested... Mary shook her head. She really shouldn't think like that about him. Mary let her thoughts drift away again as she sat by Carter, waiting for him to wake up...

Jack walked down the road with scythe in hand. Passersby stayed as far as they could out of his reach. Something about the hateful look on his face made them slightly afraid. They knew he was after Zack, but it was still creepy. Jack stopped in front of the mayors house and rapped on the door with his scythe. This was simply delicious to be able to walk around like this in broad daylight. The mayor opened the door and at the sight of the scythe was startled back a few steps.

"Sorry about scaring you like that mayor. I didn't mean too. I was just coming by to report in for duty. I hope that isn't a problem."  
  
The mayor coughed a few times, "No. No, not a problem at all. My apologies entirely, I was startled, that's all. Yes, that's fine. You don't have to report into me. Just do your duty as the local militiaman. You are the one we are putting our trust in. So do your best to protect us. That's all."

"Oh, okay, thanks mayor!" Jack walked away, scythe gripped firmly in hand. He had them eating out of his hands...


	16. A Hunting He Will Go

**Chapter 16: A Hunting He Will Go**  
  
Zack had made himself a pretty nice little shelter out in the woods. He found this really big tree that should scatter all the rain away when he was underneath it. There was an old log he pulled up which could be used as a chair or a table. And, best of all, there was several edible plants around. Who would have guessed all that work as a shipper would have taught him what he could eat out in the wilderness. But it did, he could identify all the various roots and grasses that sometimes got shipped. It was all in all a pretty nice place to live. He was far away and safe from any crazed villager.  
  
It wasn't right. It just wasn't right at all. Zack wasn't the murderer, but everyone was after him anyway. He pulled a satchel that he had brought with him down from the tree and took out some bread. The only thing he had to eat that was really any good. How did it all get twisted around like this? Zack wanted to know so badly...  
  
Jack knew where Zack was staying. He had tracked him into the woods. It was a little something he had picked up over the years. But the first time Jack had followed him, he wasn't ready. So he set up a little booby trap near Zack's camp. He'd go back, from time to time to check in on his little prey. Jack knew that in a one on one fight, Zack could wipe the floor with him. That's why he needed to be extra careful. The death of Zack was crucial to his plan...  
  
Mary eventually went home as day turned into night, leaving Carter and Cliff behind in the hospital. Anna scolded her harshly for leaving the library unattended all day. She just stood there and accepted her punishment. Clean up the entire house. Scrub the floors, clean the kitchen, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, everything. Mary was used to it. She set about doing the tasks that Anna had assigned her. Mary never cried once during her punishment, but afterwards she cried her heart out in bed. Punished for trying to do the right thing...  
  
Zack needed to start a fire, it was starting to get quite chilly at night, and he was in no position to catch a cold. As the sun was falling he set out from camp. Leaves on the forest floor crunched under his boots. At least it hadn't rained for a while, so it shouldn't be too hard to find some good dry sticks for the fire. He wandered around a bit picking up a stick from time to time. He almost had enough. Every now and then he looked over his shoulder. Zack had the eerie feeling that somebody was watching him. He almost had gotten enough sticks when something grabbed his foot. Zack tried to jump back, but was quickly pulled off his feet. He spun rapidly as he swung upside down and watched helplessly and he crashed headfirst into a tree. As he blacked out, the last thing he saw was a shadowy figure approaching carrying a scythe in his hands.


	17. More Hospital Chatter

**Chapter 17: More Hospital Chatter**

Kai had arrived back in town today. He had received an urgent letter from the Mayor and rushed right over. Mayor Thomas hadn't said what the problem was, only that they needed his help badly. There was an eerie feeling about the streets. All the usually happy townsfolk were locked inside there homes. It gave him the willies.

He walked up to the mayor's house and rapped on the door, "Anybody home? Kai here!"  
  
Mayor Thomas opened the door a crack and immediately rushed Kai inside and began telling him about the bad news...

Jack entered into the hospital. It was time to go visit Carter. Scythe was in hand, but not to kill anyone this time. He was supposed to be the town guardian, so he had to keep his weapon at hand at all times. He walked around the large curtain separating the patients from the waiting room. He looked in at Mary, Cliff, and Carter. They were all unmoving. Mary was crying softly over Carter.

Jack leaned his scythe against the wall and pulled a chair up beside Mary. He placed a hand on her back, "You know, Carter wouldn't want you to cry over him."

Mary looked up in surprise at Jack and her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't noticed him come in, "I'm not crying over Carter. I know that would break his heart. I'm crying over... something someone else did."  
  
Jack felt his heart warm up a little towards Mary, "What do you mean? Did somebody hurt you?" He was ready to take up his scythe again if need be.  
  
Mary quickly stopped that road of thinking though, "No of course not. That's not what happened at all."  
  
Jack noticed his hand was still on Mary's back and quickly pulled it away. Mary wished he hadn't. "Mary, tell me what happened."  
  
"My mom, she punished me for staying here with Carter instead of doing my job at the library. I love books, but not as much as I love my friends. They mean everything to me. Even you Jack." She quickly looked away in embarrassment.

Jack blushed a bit too. He'd make Anna pay for hurting Mary. That's what he would do, "So you don't like your mom? You might not be so sad if the murderer got to your mom?"

Mary shrunk back from Jack. There was something very creepy in the way he just said that, "Never! I'd never want anything to happen to my mom! She gave birth to me. I was born from her body. I could never hate her."

Jack thought fast, "I didn't mean it like that. I wasn't accusing you of anything! It was just sort of a really bad joke. Guess it wasn't very funny. Sorry about that," Jack frowned. That didn't mean he still couldn't get Anna to behave more properly. Wouldn't be too difficult at all.

"A joke, that's all," Mary forced a laugh, "Funny one aren't you Jack?"  
  
"Well I'm sorry Mary, but I really have to go. You know, patrolling the city and all that as the new police officer of Mineral Town." He got up and took hold of his scythe from where it rested.

Mary leapt up, "Wait Jack!" She wrapped her arms around him, "Bye, and good luck." She kissed him quickly on the cheek and sat back down in her chair ashamed of herself.

Jack was blushing too, "Uh, I have to go. Bye!" Jack marched away cheerfully. Time to get to work. Mary would be happy tomorrow!


	18. Blond on the Inside

**Chapter 18: Blond on the Inside**

Jack slammed his axe into the stump again. He was trying to cut off a good sized chunk of wood. His plan was to make a mask to hide his face. That way nobody would recognize who he was. With another swing, Jack hacked off a good sized piece. That was what he was wanting. It was too dangerous this time to just run in and do whatever. Tonight's scare was going to take a bit more planning than past ones. They may have gotten off easy last night, but tonight 'Zack' would strike again. He'd make sure the fear of his presence would be newly imprinted upon their minds...

Popuri entered into the hospital. She wanted to say hello to Carter and try to get him to wake up. She just couldn't understand why Carter kept sleeping like this. She wanted him to wake up. She looked over at Mary and Cliff. Mary sat their with her hands placed over her heart. Popuri smiled smugly as she sat down next to Mary. She knew what was going on, "You loved him didn't you?"  
  
Mary gasped and coughed. Popuri had shocked her again. She really should not sit with her back to the door as jumpy as she was, "No, no, no! Not at all. I mean no! Of course I don't love him. Whatever gave you that idea." She could feel her cheeks getting hot.

"I see the way you are blushing. You do love Carter, don't you? Don't worry, Rick told me he's just really sleepy. He'll wake up in no time flat! My big brother is never wrong."

Mary felt a pang in her heart, and not just from Carter. Everything was messed up. Just a few days from now she had been going to marry Grey, and now, she was falling in love with the man she had turned down. What was going on with her?

Elli walked in with a fresh hot water bottle. She looked over at Cliff and sighed, "I wish Cliff would move. He won't even leave after we close." Elli lifted Carter's head and replaced the old hot water bottle with a new one. "He sits their all day long staring at Carter. He hasn't even eaten. If he doesn't do something soon, we are going to have another person hospitalized." She sat down with the rest of the girls, "I need to lighten up. So enough about my problems, tell me what's happening with you two!"

Mary started, "Well I ––"

Popuri quickly interrupted her, "I know how to get Cliff to move. Watch me!" She walked around the bed to where Cliff was sitting. She leaned in close to him, took a deep breath, and shouted as loud as she could, "Hey! Stop daydreaming!" Cliff sort of rolled out of his chair and fell to the ground. Elli leapt up to see if he was alright, but Cliff just slowly stood back up and resumed his place on his stool without saying a word.

Popuri frowned. She was so certain that would have worked.

Elli sat back down, "I really am worried about him. Nice try though Popuri."

"Want me to try with Carter?"  
  
Mary and Elli looked at each other and said it at the same time, "No!"

"It was just a question, there was no need to yell at me over it!"

Elli needed to get rid of Popuri before she hurt the patient. "Hey, did you hear? Kai is back in town."

"Kai!" Popuri clapped and jumped up and down much to Elli's distress.

"Yes Popuri! Now go find him!" Elli watched as Popuri rushed out the door. She let out a sigh of relief. "Now I'm sorry Mary, but I have to get back to work. Sorry I didn't get to talk to you more." She stood up again and walked away. 


	19. Night of the Scythe

**Chapter 19: Night of the Scythe**

Mary cried to herself as she scrubbed the floor of the library. Her mom was being so mean to her. All she was trying to do was be a good person by staying with Carter. She wasn't doing anything wrong. Why did she have to work like this. It pained her to see such happy people like Popuri and Kai. When they met again after Kai's long absence, the danced down the street. Her life was so miserable. She dipped her sponge back in the bucket and squeezed the extra water out of it. Mary felt just like that sponge. Like she was having the life twisted out of her...

Jack sat in his house carving his mask. It was going to look awesome. With his knife he cut a twisted smile out of the wood. He'd need to buy a new knife after he was done, this knife was ruined. That was that. With one last twist of the knife, the mask was finished. Jack stood up and pulled his cloak around him tight. He affixed the mask to his face and looked at himself in the mirror. A horrible skull grinned back at him. It was beautiful. He gripped the scythe in hand and marched out his door...

Anna walked over to the library. She needed to teach her daughter a lesson that would keep her doing what she said once and for all. That little girl had gotten way out of line lately, and she would guarantee that this time she would behave. She slammed open. Mary flinched and cowered slightly. Very nice. "Mary! Why haven't you finished scrubbing all the floors yet? You are being lazy aren't you?"

"No mom not at all. I'm very sorry. I'll try harder to do it faster."

"You won't try harder, you will do it faster. And for back talking me, I want you to dust all the shelves too. That will teach you to behave more like a proper lady. How can you ever expect to succeed in life if you are lazy all the time. I want you to stop shirking your duties."

"Yes ma'am. I will ma'am. I'm very sorry for talking inappropriately ma'am." Mary fought back the tears. That would only make it worse.

Anna smiled, "You better be. Now get back to work, I want you finished soon, and the job better be to my satisfaction." She slammed the door to the library back open. She would leave Mary to her work. It was fun torturing her like this...

Jack watched her from behind the corner of the house. Anna was now leaving the library to go back to her adjoining home. The late night light inside the library spilled out onto the street, but no light fell upon Anna's face. The depths of her cruelties made light itself forsake her. Jack would stifle her evil, one way or another. For Mary, he would give Anna one chance, and one alone. One single solitary chance to live. It was something Anna didn't deserve.


	20. Blade of the Scythe

**Chapter 20: Blade of the Scythe**

Jack slowly walked from his vantage point beyond the corner of the house. His dark cloak billowed about his feet. The scythe's blade glinted in the moonlight, catching Anna's attention. She stopped in her tracks, hands at her side. It was like she was waiting calmly for death to carry her away. That was fine with Jack. She stared deep and into his eyes as he approached her. It sent chills down his spine. He could easily sense the hatred in her eyes trying to rind it's way into his own soul. It was like she was trying to see into the very depths of his soul. Jack almost panicked until he remembered he was wearing the mask. He smiled to himself. That was what she was looking at, the mask. It must have her too terrified to move.

Standing in front of her, he slowly and dramatically raised the point of the scythe to the underside of her chin. He would scare the life out of her. Up close, her eyes were even more terrifying. They grinded into Jack, completely devoid of light, consumed by hatred. He was so scared, now the tables had turned. Now it was Jack who was unable to move...

Anna would make him pay. Grasping the opportunity she was just granted, she clutched her hand tight around the handle of the scythe and shoved the butt of it hard into Zack's stomach. She would destroy him. Anna yanked the scythe out of Zack's hands and quickly turned the blade back upon him. "You will die Zack. I will see to it that you die in the most excruciatingly painful way that I can think of. You will pay for killing Manna. You will suffer and I will laugh at it. When I am through with you, you will regret that you were ever born!" She twirled the scythe around and ready for the attack. Anna wouldn't kill him just yet. She would play with him a bit first to prolong his agony. That was always so fun...

During her speech, Jack had the time to compose himself. As she brought the scythe down to pierce Jack, he rolled out of the way. The blade caught the cloak. Jack tugged on it, trying desperately not to lose it. He kicked Anna in the leg and she fell to ground once again losing her grip on the scythe. Jack pulled the blade loose from the ground and stood up at the same time Anna did.

Here they were at the same place again that they began in, but this time Jack wouldn't be caught off guard. Quickly this time, Jack brought the point of the scythe up under Anna's chin. Completely surprised at suddenly being at the point of death, Anna froze. Jack said, in a deep boom voice that was his best impression of Zack, "Anna, you have committed many crimes against humanity. How do you plead your soul?"

"Shut the hell up and kill me already! Or have you gone soft you bastard. Kill me. I dare you too. You don't have the spine Zack. You know you can't! You are just a weakling. A foolish little man caught up in heap of trouble. Jack will kill you and you are terrified of dying. Or maybe you are even more scared that it will be I that kills you!"

Jack was sick of this, "Shut up!" He pushed the blade closer up to her chin, forcing her to stand on the tips of her toes if she did not want her neck pierced, "I am sick of you. You are the lowest scum on the face of this planet and I would like nothing more than to kill you. But as long as you do what I say, I won't kill you. All you have to do is be a nice, not evil, Anna, and I will let you live."

"I knew you were too scared. I knew you were just a weakling. A pathetic fool caught up in over his head."

Jack raised the scythe point even higher. A small trickle of blood ran down her neck as it finally broke skin. Anna could do nothing to defend herself, "If you move, your throat will be slit and you will die. This is your only chance. Now listen up and listen good. You had better be nice to Mary from now on. If you ever do anything to make her cry again, I will end your life. I would do so now, but Mary, for only reasons the Harvest Goddess knows, loves you. I do not want to hurt her by killing you unless you leave me no choice."

Jack dragged the tip of the scythe up the underside of her chin, just barely slicing the skin. The trail of blood down her neck quickened and for the brief moment fear flashed through Anna's eyes, but it was quickly drowned out by the darkness in her heart, "This is the gravest of warnings, for if you tell anyone at all of this encounter, I will kill you within the hour. Your life will be forfeit. But now, I want you to go into that library and tell Mary you are sorry. I want you to let her off work, and I want you to do it this instant. If you do not, your life is forfeit. Do you understand?"

Anna mumbled something incoherent. Jack pressed the tip of the blade even closer into her skin. The pain finally broke through to her and she gave in, "I will." She poured every ounce of her hatred into those two words as she tried to shove them down the Zack's throat. Hiding behind that stupid skull mask probably made him feel real important. She wanted to spit in his eye.

That was good enough for Jack. He pulled away his scythe and let Anna fall to the ground in exhaustion. That whole encounter must have taken more out of her than she was letting on. With scythe in hand he marched away back down the road and disappeared into the darkness, cloak billowing about him.


	21. Mountaintop Murder

**Chapter 21: Mountaintop Murder**

Jack wandered through the streets. It was almost dawn. He had wasted the night away. Mary had been let off of work by Anna, so at least for now, Jack was letting her live. She would probably die in the end anyway. Now or later, it did not matter. For now, he had returned his mask and cloak to his home and was now on patrol protecting the city...

Popuri snuck out of her house. She and Kai had spent the whole day together. Now, she was going to meet him atop the peak of Mother's Hill to watch the sunrise with him. Outside, Kai waved at her from the street corner. Popuri rushed over and hugged Kai. He looked down at her warm bubbling face and couldn't help smiling back. After their warm greeting, Kai put his arm around Popuri's waist and they walked off together.

Popuri stopped suddenly and nearly dragged Kai to the ground. She looked at the gate in front of her, "Mommy says I'm not allowed to go in there." She read the words carved in the sign over the gate, 'Jack's Property, No Trespassing.'

Kai sighed, "It's okay. You won't get in trouble. We are just taking a small shortcut through old Nasty Jack's farm."

"Mommy also says we aren't supposed to call him that." She tried to put on a stern face.

Kai took her hand and pulled her along, "Just come on!"

But unknowingly, somebody had seen them and was following after them. Jack followed them as the snuck through his farm and strolled casually through the woods. He hiked up the mountain after them. As he reached the top, he peered at the from behind a rock and watched them. They sat on the edge of a cliff holding hands together, staring at the first rays of the sun slowly peaking over the distant mountains.

Jack slowly approached them with scythe in hand. Since the whole experience with Anna was so disappointing, this was going to be his fun for the night.

Popuri leaned up close to Kai and kissed him quick, "I love you Kai."

Kai reached slowly into his pocket, "I love you too Popuri." He pulled out a blue feather and handed it to her, "Will you marry me?"

"Yes, of course I will. Rick and Mommy will be so happy for us!" Popuri put her arms around his neck and they shared a long kiss. They finally broke away and she looked down at her lap at the blue feather. She was just so happy.

Jack twirled the scythe around fast at Kai's head. In one fair sweep, the blade went clear through his neck. Kai sat there for a moment, seemingly uncomprehending what happened. Slowly, his head rolled off his shoulders and landed in Popuri's lap.

Popuri stared at it as the blood slowly flowed from the stump of his neck, dying the blue feather a deep red. In slow motion, she opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Jack brought the scythe straight through her back. He kept carrying the swing through. Popuri's body slammed into Kai's, and their arms wrapped around each other in a morbid death embrace. With all his might, Jack ripped them from the end of his scythe, flinging them out over the precipice. As their dead bodies plummeted straight down, they managed to hold onto each other until they crashed into the rocky ground below. A shower of blood splattered across the rocks as they were flung apart.

Jack smiled as he watched, "And you had thought I was joking. I guess the joke is now on you, hope you liked the punch line."


	22. The Greatest Pain Doesn't Hurt at All

**Chapter 22: The Greatest Pain Doesn't Hurt at All**

Elli woke up to a lovely new morning. She always get up early so that she could get some work done before the doctor awoke. Especially now that they had Carter to take care of, she couldn't very well just leave him there unattended. It really was a bit annoying to have to keep checking up on him during the night. But she loved doing it anyway. Helping patients was why she became a nurse in the first place.

Before going downstairs, she gathered up some supplies. Some bandages, some medicine, the basic stuff she needed to take care of Carter. She peeked into the Doctor's bedroom and smiled at his sleeping form. Secretly she like him, but she'd never tell anyone. She glanced out a window as she headed down the stairs and saw Jack patrolling the city. Elli waved at him, but Jack didn't notice.

Absorbed in her thoughts, Elli was not watching were she was going. A few steps across from the bottom of the staircase, she tripped over something. Elli went sprawling across the floor. She looked back to see what she had caused her to stumble. Her mouth opened and let out a scream...

The doctor woke up with a jolt. He heard somebody scream from downstairs, and it sounded like Elli. He leaped out of bed, grabbed his doctors coat from off of a chair, and dashed downstairs while putting the coat on. He came to see Carter lying out on the floor with one arm stretched out in front of him with Elli freaking out at the sight of him. He did his best to calm down Elli, "Elli, please. Carter has obviously awoken from his coma briefly and crawled out to here before he collapsed again. We have not been able to make him eat, he's been living off of injected nutrients. It makes sense that he would not be strong enough to do much even in a fully conscious state, which I doubt he was in."

Elli took a deep breath and relaxed herself. It was a good thing then in a way. While it had scared her, this means that Carter was beginning to recover. "Doctor, will you please help me move Carter back into his bed?"

"Gladly I will." Together, they managed to gently lift Carter off the ground and carry him back into his room of the hospital. Elli wrapped his head in new bandages while the Doctor reset up the medical equipment such as the IV that Carter had pulled loose.

That being done, Elli placed a hot water bottle under Carter's head. He let out a long moan. Elli and the Doctor gasped as his eyes opened slightly, squinting from the light. Carter moaned again, "Where am I? I thought..." He paused for a moment, "I can't remember what I thought."

The doctor and Elli looked at each other. Elli nodded at the doctor, and he began to try and explain, "Your name is Carter. You are a priest in Mineral Town. You—"

Carter quickly interrupted him, "I don't have amnesia. I'm in the hospital, I recognize it now. I was just dazed. What happened to me?"

Elli stepped in this time, "You were attacked by the murderer, but this time he failed. Be glad you are still alive. You were in a pretty bad condition."

The doctor tapped Elli on the shoulder and she let him continue, "But what is important right now is not what your condition was, but what it is now. So I must ask you, how do you feel?"

Carter groaned, "My head feels like it is killing me. And I hurt all over. I feel so sore. I feel such pressure all over my body," he paused again to think about it for a moment, "No, that isn't exactly correct. My legs don't hurt at all. None of my lower body hurts at all. I can't feel anything at all down there." A note of panic started to work it's way into Carter's voice.

Elli looked at the doctor and they shared a worried expression...


	23. Fatal Faith

**Chapter 23: Fatal Faith**

Lillia burst through her front door with Rick hard on her heels. She was in an utter panic. "Where is Popuri?" she screamed as loud as she could, "Please. You have to be okay."

"Mom! Calm down. You have to calm down! Your condition." Rick panted heavily. He was out of shape. How was she running so fast as sick as she was? He couldn't even hope to keep up. She was going to be hospitalized if she didn't slow down. "Mom. Please. Stop." He panted heavily as she turned around the street corner. If Popuri was... it was too horrible to think about. She had never been missing before.

Jack walked up to Rick and tapped him on the back, "What's wrong? You seem exhausted!"

Rick looked up and Jack and smiled. Here was his mom's savior. Jack was enough in shape to stop her before she got hurt, "My Mom... Crazed. Help. Stop her. Sick."

Rick could barely pant out the words he needed to, but it was enough for Jack. He nodded at Rick, strapped his scythe to his back, and ran off as fast as he could after Lillia. Rick did the best he could to walk after Jack, breathing heavily the whole way.

Jack found Lillia banging her fists on the Mayor's door, screaming in a mania, "Where is Popuri? You have to find Popuri! Bring me Popuri! I want Popuri! Where is she? Popuri!"

Mayor Thomas opened his door and Lillia began to pound her fists on him, screaming the same thing over and over. The mayor cried for help and cowered away from the tornado unleashed upon him. He attempted to close the door as Jack tried to restrain the out of control Lillia. The mayor did his best to stop her, "I'll send somebody out immediately. Just stop it. We'll find her!" Thomas said it, but he didn't believe it. He knew in his heart that Popuri was the murderer's newest victim.

Rick stumbled up behind Jack and did his best to help him. The two of them managed to restrain the now mad Lillia. She arched her back and howled in rage. Suddenly, Lillia stopped fighting against them and stood their limp. They let go of her and stepped back a few paces to give her room. Rick helplessly watched his mothers eyes roll back in her head as she screamed one last time at the sky before dropping to the ground like a limp rag doll, dead.

Rick dropped to his knees and cradled his dead mother's head against his chest. Tears rolled down his cheeks, "Her body just could take the strain..." he said quietly.

Gotz dashed down the road towards the mayor's house waving, trying to catch their attention. He yelled out, "I just found Kai and Popuri's dead bodies at the foot of Mother Hill. We now know the murderer's next victim."

Utter despair entered into Rick. Jack got down next to Rick and placed his hand on his back, "It's okay Rick. I'm here for you. Just come to me if you need anything." He was a little unnerved by the look in Rick's eyes.

Suddenly a bright flame ignited in his eyes. Rick saw his solution. With unparalleled speed, Rick snatched the scythe from Jack's back and pulled it close to him.

Jack stumbled backwards, "Rick, you don't want to do this."

The mayor hid behind his closed door and called out, "Please Rick. They wouldn't want you to end it this way."

"To hell I don't. This is my only hope. The blade is my only hope."

Gotz took a step towards Rick with an outreached hand but quickly pulled it back as Rick swung the scythe at him.

"NO! You won't take this away from me." Tears poured down Rick's cheeks, "Everything that mattered to me in my life is dead and gone. And I'm going to be gone with it." He quickly pulled the point of the scythe across his throat, slitting it and coating the blade in blood. He fell down on top of Lillia. With his last bit of life in him, he kissed his mother on the cheek and wrapped his arms around her.


	24. A Stern Lecture

**Chapter 24: A Stern Lecture**

Jack, Gotz, and Mayor Thomas stood over the two dead bodies in front of them, unsure of what to do. They were shocked out of reason and were just staring. Jack was the first one snap out of it, "Shouldn't we do something with them? I mean like, well, I don't know..."

Gotz shook is head, "Yes, yes of course. I'll need to go build a coffin for their burial..." His voice changed to a teary whisper, "Why me? It seems like I hardly get one in the ground before I have to help prepare the next one. I just want to go back to building woodwork for the living. When will all this dying stop?" He finally broke down crying.

Thomas stepped back at seeing the mighty Gotz crying. The world really was falling apart. One by one everyone was dying, and he was powerless to stop it. He was the mayor, he was supposed to protect the people of the town... Won, Harris, Manna, Popuri, Kai, and now Lillia and Rick, they all had died directly or indirectly from the actions of that murderous Zack.

Thomas looked down at himself. He could do absolutely nothing to stop it. After the first two days, it had seemed like the murders had stopped, but then, in a few short hours, those who had died had more than doubled. He was unable to stop it. He was as helpless as Carter... poor Carter, the most giving, selfless, innocent person in the town, frozen in comatose.

Thomas, head in hands, slowly sank to his knees from the agonizing pain of his failure. He had failed miserably, nothing would change that. One by one, everyone would die, all because he couldn't stop a single madman. He had failed everybody.

Jack stood over the scene. He knelt down and wrenched the scythe out of Rick's cold dead hands. Indignantly, Jack wiped the blood off the blade on the grass. He glared at the two men in front of him, wallowing in their self pity and snorted in digust, "You two need to grow up. This is serious stuff, and you need to act like men about it. Do you see me crying like a little baby? No, I'm just even more determined to extract my revenge upon Zack. So stand up Thomas, and take charge, like you are supposed to."

With an angry turn, Jack refocused his assault, "And you, Gotz, stand up and do your duty to the four people who have just died. How can you justify leaving their bodies to rot? They need your talents so that they may be able to rest in death and find peace. If you don't do your job, you are no better than the murderer himself."

Jack started to storm off, but turned back to say one last thing, "I know one thing for certain. I'm going to do my duty to the town. I'm going to do everything in my power to bring justice to this town. I will destroy evil. I will do whatever it takes to do what is right. And I hope that you two will grow up and do the same. For some unknown reason, the people of the town look up to you. You need to make sure their faith in you is justified." With that, Jack turned around to leave...


	25. Bittersweet Embrace

I so don't approve of the violence lovers who read this... This story is about more than blood and guts. Whatever.

**Chapter 25: Bittersweet Embrace**

As Jack was leaving Gotz and Mayor Thomas, a commotion arose behind him. Somebody was running down the street, screaming something. Gotz moaned and whimpered, "not another one..." Foolish Gotz. There was not another death yet. There would be, all in good time, but not yet. But it did spark Jack's curiosity enough to make him pause in the middle of the road to wait for the person, who appeared to be Elli, to arrive.

Elli stumbled up and shouted gleefully, "Carter is awake! He's out of his coma!" She then glanced over at Rick and Lillia and stifled a gasp.

Jack didn't notice, "Really? You mean it?" He was so excited. As soon as Elli nodded, he dashed away to Mary's house. He had to go tell her. She'd be so excited. Jack couldn't wait to see the smile on her face when he told her.

Elli reached out after Jack and tried to call him back, "But..." She saw he wasn't going to stop, so with a sigh, she turned to address the Mayor and Gotz, "There is something more than that... And you, Gotz, were one of the people I was looking for."

Gotz shuddered as he broke his gaze away from the morbid scene at his feet, "What do you want me for? And what do you mean, something more than that?"

Jack knew that Mary wasn't in the library yet, it was too early in the morning. So at the front door of the house, he quickly rapped as loud as he could on the door with his scythe. A few moments went by, with nobody answering. Jack didn't have time for this. He rapped on the door even harder, causing little bits of brown paint to flick off the door.

Finally Anna ripped opened the door, nearly bringing it off it's hinges, "Stop it right now! You are tearing apart my door you... you... you Kappa!" She spat in Jack's face.

Jack scowled back at her and brought the butt of his scythe hard into her gut, sending her sprawling across the ground. "Shut up you witch!" Jack stood there, towering over her, scythe raised and ready. He wanted to kill her right there, but then he remembered Mary. Jack slowly lowered his blade mournfully, and quickly ran up the stairs.

Anna howled angrily, "You can't go up there!"

"Just sit and watch me witch." Jack went into Mary's bedroom. She was lying down on her bed, reading a book.

Mary sat straight up on her knees and looked at Jack in surprise. She leapt out of bed and excitedly asked, "Jack? What is it? What are you doing in my house?"

Jack took Mary's hand and began to gently pull her across the room, "Mary, it's wonderful! Carter has woke up from his coma!"

Overjoyed, Mary wrapped her arms around Jack's neck, "Really? That's so wonderful." Realizing what she was doing, she blushed and dropped her arms to the side briefly before grabbing Jack's hand again and pulling him along. "We have to go see him."

Half dragged down the stairs and out the front door, Jack had only enough time to return Anna's evil glare as they left. Mary started to turn left down the road, but Jack, seeing the crowd down at the Mayor's house, dug his heels into the ground, bring her to a halt.

"What is it Jack?"

Jack had trouble finding the right words to say, but managed to compose himself, "Please, don't spoil the good news. Trust me, let us take the long road back to the hospital."

A tear rolled down Mary's cheek. She knew that another one of her friends must have died. But she believed in Jack. She was going to enjoy the moment. Jack lightly brushed the tear from her cheek and without another word, they went to see the revived Carter, running hand in hand, struggling to lay to wayside the hurt in their hearts for loved ones lost.


	26. Reflections

**Chapter 26: Reflections**

Carter sat in his hospital bed, eating a breakfast roll that the Elli had given him before she left. The doctor was back upstairs, going through medical books to find out what tests he needed to run later to figure out if Carter possessed true paralysis or if he might be able to recover from it with physical therapy. But sometimes the patient knows more than the doctor. Deep down in his soul, Carter knew he was going to be paralyzed for life. There was nothing there. If he couldn't see them with his own eyes, touch them with his hands, Carter would never have believed it if somebody told him he had legs. He couldn't even feel a void where they once were. It was as if they had never existed.

Maybe it was because of his priestly nature, but he had come to accept this already. Carter was perfectly willing to live life in a wheelchair if he had too. That was the errand the doctor had sent Elli on. Till they could get a proper wheelchair delivered to the town, the doctor was hoping that Gotz and Saibara, between the two of them, would be able to build a functioning wheelchair. Gotz's carpentry to build the chair and Saibara's blacksmith skills to affix it with wheels. That way, Carter would sooner be able to learn to adapt to his new lifestyle and be happy again.

The doctor didn't understand it at all though. What Carter really wanted more than anything was to resume his place as the priest of his church. He wanted to see little May and Stu's darling faces again. He wanted to bring light back into the lives of the grieving townsfolk. That was what was truly going to make him happy. He didn't care if he walked again, so long as he could continue to help the people of Mineral Town like he always had. Happiness wasn't going to come from walking. Happiness is doing what one loves best.

Carter, having finished his breakfast roll, began to take a sip of the lukewarm tea that Elli had made for him. The doctor had added a bit of medicine into it, to help Carter calm his mind. He didn't need it though.

Carter's thoughts returned to the grieving townsfolk. He had duties to perform once he got out of bed. There was a pair of funerals to perform for the late Won and Manna, may the Harvest Goddess bless their souls. And Duke, he must be getting along horribly. Out of all the married couples in the town, they were closest to each other. Sure they squabbled from time to time, but it was good natured fighting at best. And they were the longest married couple too. Duke was so certain that he and Manna would live a happy life as they grew old together. With such a horrific end to that dream, it would probably take Duke a long time to be able to get on with his life as he once did.

Carter took down the last bit of the tea in one gulp and grimaced. The medicine had sunk to the bottom of the cup. He sat it to the side just as he heard the front door to the hospital open. Good, he thought to himself, Elli is back.


	27. Reunion

**Chapter 27: Reunion  
**

Mary and Jack half ran into Carter's room. They wanted more than anything to see him awake again. Jack only stopped long enough to hold open the curtain to let Mary through first. She took his hand and dragged him into the room after her. They stood before Carter, unthinking, unable to say anything.

Carter sat back in the bed. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't decide what it was. He had an itch in the back of his brain that was screaming to him, yet not saying a word. With a quick glance over them, his eyes paused on their holding hands. They followed his gaze and just stared at their interlocked hands, having yet to realize what they were doing. They both blushed and quickly let go. Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and Mary fidgeted nervously.

Carter sighed, somewhat relieved. That was all it was. But what happened to Mary and Grey? And why was there this unsettling persistent silence? He had to break it, "Well... Good morning!"

Mary flew at Carter, embracing him tearfully, "You are alright. I was so afraid. But you're alright."

Jack sat down on the edge of the bed and placed one hand on Mary's back and the other on Carter's shoulder, "Carter, how are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm a little sick of this hospital bed, and I've only been awake for not even a hour. I'd really like to get up and about."

Mary took Carter by the arm and tried to lift him out of bed, "Come on then! Let's go for a walk! We can talk. It'll be good for you to get out and about."

Carter pulled back into the bed, "I can't..."

Jack stopped Mary from yanking on Carter, "What do you mean you can't? Did the doctor tell you to stay in bed?"

"No, that's not it. I just can't..."

Mary hugged Carter again, tears welling up once more, "What do you mean? Carter..."

Carter looked away. It hurt. The sadness began to well up in him for the first time. He'd never be able to walk again. He couldn't just spend ordinary time with people anymore. From now on, Carter was a freak, he could never be normal again. It was one thing to contemplate this by himself, it was another thing entirely to have to face the reality, to tell it to somebody else. How could he tell them? He didn't want to tell them yet, but he had to, "My legs. They don't work. I can't walk. Probably never again. Elli is trying to get me a wheelchair as we speak."

Mary sat back. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true, "Carter, this isn't a funny joke. Stop it. Please, stop it right now."

Carter began to cry. It hurt so much. "I wish I was joking... Dear Harvest Goddess, I wish I was joking."

Jack stopped Mary before she could say anything else, "Don't... You aren't making this any easier on him."

Mary fell limp upon Carter and just cried. Jack put his head down, "It's all my fault. I did this to you. I should have been protecting you..."

"Why? You aren't responsible for my safety. Harris is the town's officer, not you."

Mary spoke the words that Jack couldn't, "You are wrong... Harris was killed. Jack is now the town's guardian. Defender of the right. The greatest hero the town has to offer."

"I'm no hero. I've failed. I've failed miserably." Jack buried his face in the bed sheets, "It's all my fault..."

Mary touched Jack reassuringly on the shoulder, "Jack, you---"

Carter interrupted her, "---Please, can you leave us alone for a bit. I think Jack needs to talk to a priest in confidence."

Mary nodded and went to wait outside. She wasn't so sure this confessional was intended as much to help Jack as it was for healing Carter's unseen wounds.


	28. Confession Confusion

I love this next chapter's name! It's so ominous! But dang! This chapter was hard to write! Everything was written so precisely. I couldn't have a single word out of place, or it would have ruined the entire effect of the chapter. Also, because of the intense precision, it turned out to be by far my longest chapter.

**Chapter 28: Confession Confusion**

As soon as Mary had left the room, Jack broke down crying. Carter felt sorry for Jack. He had such a rough life. Alienation was a tough road to walk and for Jack to be forced so quickly back into a position of caring for people must have caused a great inner conflict. Jack was a good person, Carter knew it. He was ashamed for having ever even considered that Jack could have been the murderer.

There Jack laid, cried on Carter's shoulder. He hadn't seen anyone this miserable since Doug's wife died. Carter comforted him, doing his best to reassure him. Through his crying Jack managed to ask one sobbing question, "I'm a horrible person, aren't I?"

Carter was shocked. Could Jack actually be having his breakthrough? Never once before had Jack even considered his rages to be wrong. It was always the townsfolk who were the horrible people to Jack. Carter thought back to Mary and Jack holding hands. Could Mary's kindness have reached deep into Jack's soul and reawakened his inner goodness?

Carter took a corner of the bed sheet and dabbed it around Jack's eyes, drying up his tears, "My boy, my sweet little child, you are not a horrible person at all. You are one of the most wonderful people I know. Sometimes you do things rashly, but that does not make you a bad person. To be able to ask that question alone shows that you value the light in your heart. A horrible person wouldn't have even given a second thought to the bad things they may have done. But you are doing a good thing, a great thing. You are the town's guardian, you are trying to protect the one's you love."

"But I've failed... I've failed miserably... I watched as a grieving Rick took his own life. I could have stopped him. I know I could have. But I didn't. Everyone, it's all my fault. It's my fault you are hurt. It's my fault. Won, Manna, Harris, Popuri, Kai, Lillia, Rick, it's my fault they died. I've failed everyone, and I will continue to fail them."

Carter gasped at the rapidly growing list of the dead, but now was not the time ponder them. He put them out of his mind and did his best to focus on Jack, "I know it may hurt right now, but you are doing what is right for the town. You have to continue to stand up for what is right. Stand as a beacon of hope to those who are afraid. You are the town's savior."

"I am no savior. I'm responsible for their deaths. Their blood is on my hands, and there is nothing I can do about it."

Carter sighed, and pulled Jack close to him, embracing him. Jack needed more than anything to feel the warmth of love right now, "But it's not your fault, it's Zack's fault. You carry the weight of the world was on your shoulders. It is hard to go on sometimes, I know. But you having given us something special. You have given the townsfolk a chance. You may yet save them. You are a true hero. I know that you will bring Zack to justice. It will be all right. Soon everything will be all over."

Jack wrestled out of Carter's grasp and sat back away from him. With tears in his eyes, he pulled his scythe off of his back, "But it won't be all right. Do you know why I'm a horrible person? It would be one thing if I just did my job, but I can't," Jack stared down at the shining blade in his hands, "I want to cause pain. I want to cut. It's not right. I should just do my duty, but I can't. It's wrong to have to kill, but necessity sometimes dictates it. Necessity is the one justification for killing... But how can I be justified it if I take joy out of the revenge?"

Carter was genuinely disturbed. How could Jack feel this way about Zack? Then again, so many of his friends had been killed. It was understandable he supposed. But understandable or not, it still wasn't healthy, "Jack, you must try to take your personal feelings out of this. Revenge is never the answer. Zack must atone for his sins, but that is not your duty. If you must..." Carter shivered at the thought of what he was getting ready to say, "you may do what you have to do to stop this evil, and you will be forgiven. Just please, if you do, do that, keep your personal feelings out of it. No life should be lost without just cause and no life should ever be taken in anger."

Jack strapped the scythe back to his back, "So, it's okay if I have to kill. If there is no other choice. As long as I don't do so in anger or for revenge," Carter nodded weakly, seemingly against his own will, "But the past, what I have done so far---"

"---It is all forgiven. Jack, bad thoughts will enter into a person's head. It's how you act upon them that shows a person's true character. All will be forgiven, if you let your body and mind walk in the light. The Harvest Goddess has forgiven you."

A big smile broke out across Jack's face, "Thank you Carter. I don't know how to thank you. I feel like a huge weight is off of my chest. Thank you!" He shook Carter's hands so heartily, he thought they would fall off, "You are the most wonderful priest ever."

Carter blushed, "Jack, please. Now, you have a duty to perform. Go on savior. Walk in the light and be free!" Jack nodded and leapt up to leave. Carter called to him just as he was going through the door, "Jack, one quick question," Jack looked back, "You and Mary... Um, is Grey gone?"

"Yes, most definitely!"

Carter smiled warmly, "Then go on! There is nothing wrong with it! Go to her with an easy heart. If you love each other, then there isn't anything to be ashamed of!"

Jack, overjoyed, smiled back, "Thank you Carter. I promise I'll make it up to you. Thank you again and again!"

Carter chuckled to himself as he lay in his bed. Already today he had done such great good deeds. He had made those two so happy. Maybe life wouldn't be so bad. He hoped that their hearts were now set completely at ease.


	29. A Fresh New Engagement

**Chapter 29: A Fresh New Engagement**

Jack looked around the waiting room and saw that Mary wasn't there so he went outside. There Mary sat on a bench, waiting for him. Jack smiled and Mary smiled back. She asked him, "Feeling better now?"

"Very much so. Let's take a walk okay?" She stood up and Jack took her hand and they walked down to Rose Square...

Meanwhile, Carter lay back in his hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to return for more testing. His head was feeling sort of fuzzy. Something was bothering him, but a thick fog was quickly enveloping his mind. It had started a little bit before Jack's confession, and had kept getting worse.

He tried to roll over onto his side without success. That must be yet another thing which was going to be difficult without the use of his legs. Funny the things we take for granted. Finally he managed to roll over. He pulled the blankets around him to keep him warm. With a yawn, he glanced at the cup sitting on the table next to the bed. The doctor had said the medicine in the tea was to help calm him. It was more like drug him out of his wits. Carter yawned again. What was bothering him? Now he wished he hadn't taken the medicine. He knew Jack had said something important, but through the growing fog of his mind, he just couldn't remember. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep...

Mary sat with Jack in Rose Square. It was a lovely sunny day, the air was crisp and clean. Their was a fresh sea breeze blowing in. It was simply peaceful. Mary felt so safe with Jack. He had his arm around her, holding her close. A bird chirped from a nearby tree. Jack looked deep into Mary's eyes and sighed, "I wanted to apologize for the other day in the library. I... I shouldn't have done that. I understand you don't feel the same way about me now. I'm truely sorry. I just---"

Mary placed a finger on Jack's lips. She slowly brought her hand back down, running it down his neck and letting it rest upon his chest, "It's..." Suddenly, she leaned in and kissed Jack. It was just the two of them, nothing else in the world mattered. And them, it seemed like the kiss had hardly begun when it had ended. Her heart beat uncontrolably. Even afterwords, she could still feel his breath in her, taste his lips upon hers. Never before... "That Jack, is how I feel about you."

Jack sat there, staring into her deep blue eyes. He wanted to say everything, ask questions, but he couldn't get it out of his mouth. But she answered his unspoken questions anyway, "Jack, I've always had some feelings for you, and I knew you had feelings for me too. But when Grey proposed to me, I didn't know what to do. I never would have dreamed that he had feelings for me. I just froze and nodded weakly. I shouldn't have, I was just caught up and didn't know how to say no. I realize now that I was wrong. I should be the one apologizing Jack, not you. I never should have hurt you like that. I love you."

Jack ran his hand down Mary's back and pulled her close to him, "I love you too Mary. But regardless, I was still wrong, and I'm the one who should be sorry."

"No, you were perfectly alright. I hurt you, I hurt you bad, and you were only right to get upset." Mary laid her head on Jack shoulder, "Won't you forgive me?"

"How about we forgive each other? I guess we both made some mistakes."

"It's a deal Jack. Clean slates from now on." They sat for a few minutes, unspeaking.

"Mary, did you know that was my first kiss?" Jack smiled as she looked up at him.

"Oddly enough, mine too." Jack looked at her quizzically, "Oh, Grey never kissed me. I never let him kiss me except on the cheeks, not that he wanted to even do that. I'd swear that if I didn't know any better, I would have thought Saibara forced him to propose to me." Again, silence set in, neither sure what to say next.

"Jack, I still have it."

"Have what Mary?"

She let go of his hand and dug deep into her pocket, "I didn't have the heart to throw it away," Mary pulled out Jack's beaten and mangled blue feather, "I did my best to dust it off and straighten it back out. Anyway, do you want to try again? Let's see if I can do it right this time."

Jack looked at the feather, and gingerly took it from Mary. He turned it over in his hand and tearfully began to smile. It had been so carefully repaired. Where the stem had been broken in two, it had been glued back together nearly perfectly. Every little hair had be straightened back out and set back in place. It must have taken Mary hours of precision work to have done this.

Jack held the feather up in the sunlight, turning it this way then that, before placing it against his chest. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell upon Mary's arm, "Mary... I how can... I just... It's so... Thank you. It's the most beautiful gift anyone's every given me. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me before. I don't know what to say..."

"Yes you do Jack."

Jack took the slightly crooked blue feather and tucked it in Mary's hair, by her ear, behind the leg of her glasses. He admired the way the glinting blue of the feather matched her eyes. "Mary will you, my love, make me the happiest man on earth? Will you take this blue feather? Mary, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will Jack. Nothing would make me happier." This time, they both leaned together in harmony, and kissed one another. They sat there, their breath on each other's lips, embracing one another for the longest time. Jack was happy, for the first time in his life, he was truely happy.


	30. Dark Shadow on the Horizon

O.o to all the people who thought that was the end of the story.

You will know when the end of the story happens. Because there will be in nice big bold letters "THE END" at it. I'm saying that because I think I will have another false ending before the story is up. That wasn't the end. I'm getting close to the end. My current projection is 42 chapters total. You should know by now, whenever things seem to look good, everything goes crashing down. Did I just gives spoilers? Not really. Just keep reading. I hope I didn't lose anyone with that... I supposed I'll try to E-Mail all my readers who thought that was the end of the story. Kinda odd... Nobody else anywhere else thought that was the end of the story. Whatever. This has been the longest Author's Note you will ever see flow forth from my mouth... or maybe my fingers.

In fact... Maybe I should give you guys and gals two chapters tonight... naw. You'll just have to wait til tomorrow for another chapter.

**Chapter 30: Dark Shadow on the Horizon**

Jack and Mary spent the whole morning together in Rose Square, doing nothing in particular. They would have spent the whole day there had Mary not reminded Jack that they should tell Carter about their new marriage plans. While they could have the mayor wed them, they wanted more than anything for Carter to do it, to have Carter sanctify their marriage under the Harvest Goddess. Even more so, how could they refusing being married by one of their best friends? And, what could possibly heal him more than a wedding? It would break the dismal mood from the many funerals he'd have to perform. They hurried over to the hospital to go see Carter.

Jack held the door open for Mary and entered after her. Elli was sitting in her usual place behind the front desk, filling out paperwork. Mary walked up to her, "So, Elli?" She ran her hand through her hair, right along the blue feather, "Anything new?"

Elli continued working without looking up, "I'm sorry Elli, I'm really busy right now. You wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork that goes into ordering a wheelchair. Saibara and Gotz should have the makeshift wheelchair ready this afternoon, but we really don't want Carter to have to use that thing forever. We want our Carter to have a top of the line electric power wheelchair. Thing is, those are really expensive. That's what these forms are for, trying to get some money to help cover some of the cost from either the government or from charities."

Mary turned away, slightly disappointed. She had wanted to see Elli's reaction. Jack placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile. He looked back over at Elli, "Hey, that's okay. We really just want to talk to Carter. We have something important to tell him."

Elli sat down her pen and shook her head slowly. This paperwork was giving her a splitting headache. Guess she would take a break to talk after all, "I'm sorry, but he's sleeping right now. It's really best that you don't wake him up." She looked up at the two of them. Jack and Mary were holding hands, trying their best to keep a serious face. Suddenly, a huge grin broke out across their faces and they stifled laughter at a private joke. Elli noticed a flash of blue in Mary's hair. Could it be?

Elli leapt up and ran around the desk. She hugged Mary tight, "Is it really true Mary? Are you two getting married Mary?"

Mary took the precious feather out from her hair and showed it to Elli, "It really is true."

Elli looked over a Jack, "I just can't believe it. My precious little Jack is going to marry Mary."

"I can hardly believe it myself." Jack tucked the feather back into Mary's hair.

It suddenly dawned upon Elli, "And that, that is why you wanted to talk to Carter?"

"Would you tell him for us when he wakes up? Jack and I want to be wed by him, and no one else will do."

"Of course I will. It would be my honor. It will be so wonderful! I haven't gone to a wedding in ages."

Jack took Mary's hand again, "Well, we really must be going. There is so much we are going to have to do. Thank you very much."

Outside, Jack looked up at the sky. The sun was directly overhead. A chill ran down his spine. The day was only half way done. It may have been a perfect day so far, but knowing his luck, something was going to have to go wrong. With a quick glance down the road, he saw just what was in store for him.

Anna was heading straight for them. It suddenly had dawned upon Mary that her mother would never tolerate this marriage. Mary squeezed his arm tight, "Please, let's go the other way."

"No Mary. You have to face her sometime. Stand up to her. Mary, you are worth everything to me. Am I worth enough to you that you would stand up to your mother for me? Stand up to Anna. You are strong enough to do it. I know you can." Jack stood with Mary strong in the middle of the road holding her hand tight, facing the one thing which could possibly tear them apart. Bad luck must have a crush on him or something.


	31. Showdown at High Noon

Now... I must ponder... How many times have I issued this warning? I don't know, but this story is up at a lot of places and I've had to say it over and over. Where I come from, Anna is considered the ultimate evil of Harvest Moon. I mean, come on, in the game, she laughs when her husband falls off a cliff! Expect to see some very disturbing stuff in the chapters to come.**  
**

**Chapter 31: Showdown at High Noon**

Step by step, Mary watched as her mother walked towards them. Even under the blazing heat of the sun, the air around them seemed to chill as she approached. Jack squeezed her hand tight. Mary heard him say to her under his breath, "You can do this." Despite herself, she began to quake in fear as Anna came to a stop in front of them. She knew she wouldn't be able to do it.

Anna stood there, glaring at the two of them. It took her just a brief moment to analyze everything before her, the blue feather, their tightly held hands, a bead of sweat upon Jack's forehead, a tear growing in Mary's eyes. Mary was shaking, and so was Jack to a lesser extent, as he did a much better job of hiding it. They were scared of her, and were wise to be so. Jack though, was scared only because Mary was scared, he didn't know the true extent of the fear he should have, the fear she had instilled in Mary, the fear that she would soon instill in Jack.

Yet still Anna waited, knowing the silence was ripping Mary up inside, crushing any confidence she had. A blow wisely struck before the battle had even begun, a poisoned enemy is much easier to defeat. She let the poison flow forth into Jack and Mary, the poison of doubt and uncertainty. A tear finally dislodged itself and ran down Mary's face. Anna smiled coldly, she would say simple words, but words infused with such venom of pure hatred as to grind them into the dust. Yes, that would be most effective, "Good day Jack," She spat into the dirt, "Good day Mary."

Jack wasn't going to have anything to do with these false pleasantries, "Say what you have to say and be done with it."

Anna gave Jack an innocent look and brushed a nonexistent tear from her eye, "Why Jack, I thought we were friends. How can you talk to me so cruelly?"

"Cut the crap Anna. We know what you are up to, and we won't have none of it."

Now Jack was messing with her fun. Fine, he wanted her to get on with it, then so she would. He wasn't aware of the extent of her control over Mary, "Fine, so be it... Mary what do you think you are doing with that bastard Jack? I forbid you to marry him." She raised her voice to a near scream, "You are to let go of his hand and walk over here right now or suffer dire consequences."

Jack laughed, like she honestly expected that to work, "Come on Mary, let's go." He looked over at Mary with her head held low, "Mary?"

She didn't want to look at either of them. Mary didn't want to have to suffer from eye contact with Anna, but even worse she couldn't bare to see the hurt in Jack's eyes. She wrenched her hand free from Jack's and whispered under her breath, "I'm sorry." Mary slowly walked to her mother. Jack grabbed her from behind, tried to hug her, hold her tight, bring her back to him. Mary tried to control her crying. Why did he have to make it so hard on her? Mary squirmed free from Jack and went to stand by her mother.

Jack slowly sunk to his knees in despair, "No... no... it can't be..."

Anna grinned evilly. She loved seeing people grovel before her, "How does it feel Jack? To know that nobody in the world loves you? To be all alone? To be the most despised creature on the face of the Earth? You see it now don't you? Nobody loves you."

Jack looked up at them. Mary still won't show her face to him. Anna was overjoyed. He didn't know what to do, "But Mary..."

"Oh, like you honestly expected my little Mary to love you? She's just on the rebound from Grey. Give her a few days and she'll be completely over you. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's over you already. Tell him Mary. Tell him how much you hate him. Tell him he's worthless. Tell him you never loved him."

Jack buried his face in his hands at the onslaught. He didn't see Anna raise her hand threateningly at Mary. He didn't see the tears Mary shed over him. He didn't see the confliction between what Mary said with her mouth and what she said with her eyes. He wasn't capable of feeling the love she felt for him despite her words. All he heard was the words she spoke, "Jack... I... I hate you. You... You are worthless. I never loved you."


	32. Hidden Pasts

Somebody once said that what they loved about my story was that they never knew what was coming next. There are at least three things you never saw coming in this chapter. And yet... I foreshadowed all of them long ago in the story. This is fun! It's so fun messing with all you... I sound something like a non-evil version of Anna right about now.

**Chapter 32: Hidden Pasts**

Anna put her hand to her mouth and laughed her cruel laugh, "Tell him again Mary."

"I hate you Jack. I never loved you. I was wrong."

This was too fun! Why end it now? Never before had she ever tortured two people by making them destroy each other against their will. This was the most fun she had ever had! Anna laughed once more, "Tell him again and again and again Mary!"

Mary couldn't stand it. How could she keep doing it? How could her mom be so mean to them? Her tears broke into sobs and her agony overwhelmed her. Anna frowned in disgust and lightly tapped Mary on the side of her cheek. Mary gasped in terror. That threat was oh so very real to Mary and she immediately stopped crying. She remembered the last time Anna gently slapped her like so. That night Anna had beaten her so badly, Mary didn't think she'd live to see the morning.

Mary ran her fingers along her side, feeling one of her many scars under her dress. Her body was covered with many such scars from such attacks. First, Anna played around with her for a bit, warming up, she said, for the true punishment. She had put on every ring she owned on her hands and slapped her repeated, cutting into her flesh over and over again. Somehow, even knowing that this was the least of the pains that she would experience that night, did not stop her from crying out in pain every time she was struck. Pain, which was only exemplified by the fact that nobody came to her rescue.

After a while, Mary was made to go wash the blood off of the rings then bring her father's belt for the rest of her punishment. By the time the night was finished, her skin was peeling off in many places, having been flailed loose by the vicious onslaught. But the pain was not yet finished. Anna then rubbed salt into Mary's many wounds, intended, she said, to both prevent infection, stop the bleeding and speed the healing as well as round off the punishment.

Mary only wished that she was as strong as Jack thought she was. But she was nothing compared to her mother. Mary was weak and Anna was strong, "I hate you Jack." Anna began to laugh continuously, a haunting background to Mary's false testimony, "I never loved you. It was a mistake. It was nothing more than a rebound from Grey. I hate you."

Anna laughter stopped, "That's enough Mary. Do you see it now Jack? Is it clear to you? You were a fool to even think that Mary would love you. Your parents didn't even want you." Jack looked up at Anna briefly, confused, "Oh, I see. You never knew, did you? I'm sure you remember that time you visited Mineral Town as a child and got lost."

Jack nodded his head slowly then resumed looking at the ground, "That's when I met the old man who's farm I now run."

"You didn't get lost, your parent's tried to abandon you. I believe it was Harris who noticed them leaving without you. It was the talk of the town. The young boy who was abandoned by his parents. We forced them to go pick you back up and take you with them. Believe me, they weren't happy about it. Mary was awfully young at the time, but I'm sure she remembers. Tell him now."

"She's telling the truth. You were abandoned. I remember you. I didn't know you were that boy, but I remember you back then." She remembered him and that day very well. Nobody had ever told her they were the same people. If only she had known that this Jack was the same boy she met so many years ago. Of all the kids in the town, she had been the only one who was brave enough to go and meet him. Mary had gone to comfort him, but found him blissfully unaware of his abandonment. She didn't want to hurt him, so she didn't tell him the truth. Later that night, when her mother found out about her meeting the abandoned child, Anna beat her. At least back then the beatings weren't as bad.

Anna laughed, "See Jack, nobody has ever loved you. Nobody will ever love you. You will be alone forever." Mary knew that was false, she loved Jack. "Now Mary, it's time to deal the final crushing blow. Take that blue feather out of your hair, throw it to the ground, and grind it into the dust.

Mary pulled the feather loose and held it in her hands, staring at it. The ultimate symbol of their love for each other. Both of them had given so much for each other. Mary whispered, too quietly for anyone to hear, "No..."

Anna glared at Mary and raised her hand threateningly, "What are you waiting for? Do it now!"

Mary wouldn't do it. She couldn't do it. Her mother was wrong. A fire ignited in Mary's eyes. She hated Anna. She never loved Anna. Anna had never loved her. She was so wrong. Jack was right, she did have to stand up to her, "No! Never! You are the one who is wrong Mom!"

Mary screamed as her mother's hand flew down towards her. She could see her mother's wedding ring flash in the sunlight. Anna backhanded her as hard as she could. The diamond cut straight through Mary's face, ripping apart flesh, grinding against the bone. Mary yelped in pain as she was knocked to the ground. She fell face first into the dirt.

Anna stood over her screaming at a fevered pitch, "You little wench! How dare you disobey me?" Mary barely had time to spit out the dirt and try to catch her breath before Anna yanked her back up by the hair. "I swear by the time I'm through with you you'll never be able to sit down again!"


	33. Evil's Revelation

By popular request… Here is the conclusion to the Anna Arch...

**Chapter 33: Evil's Revelation**

Mary was trying desperately to stand up, at best managing to stumble along, trying to not be dragged through dirt behind Anna. Mary cried out back behind her, "Jack help!"

That snapped Jack out of his misery. Quick as lightning, he looked up, assessed the situation, and lunged forth from his crouching position, drawing his scythe midleap. Anna had hardly taken five steps before she stopped, feeling the cold blade upon her neck. With calm authority, Jack gave her a sharp warning, "Let her go now."

"You wouldn't dare kill me. I know you won't. You are just a pathetic weakling caught up in over his head..." Anna paused for a moment. She had said that before. She looked across the blade, down the handle, over at Jack. The scythe, it's the same scythe. She stared deep into Jack's eyes. Those were the same eyes that she stared into last night. In an instant Anna knew. She couldn't believe that she had actually thought that Zack was the murderer. Why hadn't she seen it before?

"Until Mayor Thomas appoints somebody else, I am the law in this town. Now you will let go of Mary."

Anna knew Jack wouldn't spill her blood over Mary. He was too much in love with her, "Why don't you make me? She's my daughter, I'll do what I want with her. Come on. Kill me while I stand over my daughter."

Jack slowly brought the blade away from Anna's neck, "You're right. I won't kill you." He clenched his fist hard around the handle and grunted as he spun it around as hard as he could, bringing the heel end of it slamming into the side of Anna's head.

Anna yelped in surprise as she found herself now on the ground, "How dare you? I think you broke my jawbone you bastard."

"You are still talking, aren't you?" Jack extended a hand to help Mary off of the ground. "It's all okay now Mary. Everything will be alright."

Mary took Jack's hand and stood up, only to immediately fall into Jack's chest crying, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it. I was so scared."

Jack patted her on the back, then lifted her up straight and gasped, "Oh my, that's a nasty cut on your cheek right there. We'll have to get Elli to help clean that up."

"Thank you Jack..."

Anna growled as she stood back up, "You think it's over? Just like that?"

Jack bent down and picked back up the blue feather that Mary had lost during the struggle, "I do believe you have lost. You don't have control over either of us anymore." He brushed the dust back off of the feather and tucked it back in Mary's hair.

Anna smiled slyly. How wrong he was, she had yet to finish spiting them. "You are sorely mistaken. Do you know why? Because I still hold my trump card. I own Mary's library. It's part of my property. I own the building and the land it's on. And you know what I think? I think I'm never going to let Mary enter into the library again!" She laughed at them, at her victory.

"Man, that laugh is really getting on my nerves."

Mary, extremely distressed by this new problem, exclaimed "Is it true Jack? Does she get my library?"

Jack grinned mysteriously, "Well, she may very well be correct about the library."

Anna squealed gleefully, "I knew it!"

"No..." Mary cried out.

"But I'm pretty darn sure that the books inside do belong to you and I can order to have them confiscated from the library and returned to you if Anna tries to stop you from taking them." From the look on Anna's face, he knew he had struck the correct chord.

Mary lept into Jack's arms and kissed him, "Thank you, my love, I knew you'd come through for me."

"So you see Anna? You may very well be almost correct. But I say let the world hate us. As long as we love each other, we are stronger than you. Now go on, crawl back under the rock you came out from under. As soon as we get this cut looked at," Jack tenderly touched Mary's cheek, which was bleeding quite profusely, "we will be back to get Mary's books. And take heed of this stern warning, there had better not be a single book missing or damaged."

Anna stormed off angrily. So be it. Let the little wench marry that bastard. She didn't care. A thought occured to her, Jack was the murderer after all. A faint smile crossed her face as Anna returned home. They may have beaten her this round, but at least Mary would get what she deserved when Jack killed her.


	34. A Long Farewell

Whatever… This chapter sucks… It's just preperation for the next two chapters. Read the next one please! Don't abandon me because this one stinks so horribly!

**Chapter 34: A Long Farewell**

Jack walked Mary to the front of the hospital and held the door open for her, "Mary, do you mind if I leave for a bit? I have some business I neede to take care of. It will only take me, oh, fifteen, twenty minutes I think."

Mary gave Jack a quick reassuring embrace, "I'll be fine. Just go on and get back fast. Elli should take good care of me."

"Alright… Honey," A subtle smile crossed his lips with that word, "Just get that lookked at and I'll be back as quick as I can."

"What are you doing anyway?"

"Oh nothing. I'm just going to, uh, take care of Anna."

Mary gave Jack a serious look, "I know you love me, and well, please don't take this the wrong way, but you tend to get a bit emotional over me. Please don't do anything rash."

Her gaze shifted from Jack's face. He followed and saw that she was staring at the scythe strapped on his back. He sighed in relief, "Don't worry, it's nothing like that. I have more straint than that. Okay, well, as you know I'm sort of the semi official guardian of the town, Mayor Thomas appointed me to that position. But my authority only extends so far as what is related to catching the murderer, for anything else, I must report to him first. So I'm going to go request the authority to place Anna under arrest."

Mary gasped, "You can't arrest my mom Jack!"

"I'm sorry Mary, but think about it. Pretend that she didn't just cut your face open and literally try to drag you home," Jack gingerly touched Mary's cheek. It would probably never heal properly. She would always have a massive scar all the way from the corner of her eye down the side of her face. "Even still, we know she reacts very violently to the idea of us getting married. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she tried to buren the church down with us in it. She's a dangerous woman. I need to do this, for your safety. I couldn't forgive myself if she did something else to harm you." By now Jack was nearly begging "Please Mary, don't you understand?"

Mary resigned to Jack's argument, "I suppose you are right. You know, you are very convincing. I'm going to lose every argument we aver will have, won't I?"

"Naw, I'll throw you a bone every now and then," Jack said teasingly, "Now, are you going to go through the door or wait for my arm to fall off first?"

Mary laughed and was shocked by the sound. When was the last time she had a good hearty laugh? Mary honestly couldn't remember. Already Jack was healing her unseen wounds in ways neither of them really understood. She gave him a quick hug and a kiss before going through the door. "Bye Jack."

"Bye Mary. See you in a little bit." As Jack left, he couldn't help but smile at the thought… That was his soon to be wife.


	35. The Death of Mary

**Chapter 35: The Death of Mary**

Mary entered into the now empty hospital. She gazed around the now eeriely silent waiting room. Elli had been sitting at the desk filing papers just mere moments ago. Where was she now? A cold chill past over Mary as she thought an unthinkable thought. Could it be that the murderer had struck again?

Mary quietly tiptoed through the rooms to where Carter was sleeping. She hoped more than anything that Elli was in that room, tending to her ailing friend. She peeked around the corner of the curtain of Carter's room. She saw nothing more than Carter's body in his bed, his chest slowly rising and falling as he slept blissfully unaware of Mary's fear. Well, that was good and all, at least he hadn't been killed, but the Doctor and Elli were still unaccounted for. She turned to leave.

A hand placed itself on Mary's shoulder.

Mary screamed and jumped in surprise. She turned to face the mysterious person only to find something hot and wet splatter upon her shirt. Mary yelped and stumbled backwards. As she fell, she grabbed the curtain that divided the room. It supported her for a brief instant, then, with a serious of loud clangs, the rings holding the curtain up snapped. As the great white sheets enveloped her, she began to thrash wildly, trying to escape their bondage, but only succeeding in tangling herself up worse. In a few short moments, she was completely immobilized in a prison of her own making, able to do little more than jerk slightly from side to side. She screamed again in terror.

"Mary, calm down, please! It's just me, Elli."

Mary immediately stopped struggling and waited patiently in embaressment as Elli went about unwrapping her. It took a little while, but Elli finally got Mary's head free. She gasped, "Oh my dear sweet Harvest Goddess! Look what I just did to your face! I'm so sorry Mary. It was an accident."

"Relax Elli, that was why I came to see you anyway. I had that already. I want to get it looked at." Mary reassured her. Now it was Elli's turn to be embaressed.

"Yeah, that's probably going to need stitches. We'll try to get that fixed right back up as fast as we can."

An awkward silence set in, neither of them knowing what to say next. Elli tried to start the conversation back up while she worked, "So... I assume you've heard about the new murders."

"Just vaguely. I don't really know anything about them yet. Don't even know who was killed."

"Well, Kai and Popuri were killed on top of Mother Hill. Decapitated is what they say."

Mary paled at the thought, "That's kinda morbid..."

"Yeah. But I thought there was something funny about it."

Now Mary's curiosity was sparked, "What?"

Elli lowered her voice, "Well, don't go spreading this around. The last thing we need is wild rumors running rampant. But don't you think it's kinda odd. With the first murders, they were beaten to death. These most recent ones were, well, not."

Mary had just gotten one of her arms free and was helping in the untangling, but now she just stared up at Elli stunned, "Are you saying you think there are two murderers?"

"There may well be. It seems to me like somebody was trying to take advantage of the chaos to mask their own agenda. Hoping that their murders would get blamed on the other murder. And I think the new murderer is Gotz."

Mary laughed a forced laugh, "That's silly! Gotz wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Is it so silly? Doesn't he have an axe which would be perfectly convenient for decapitation? Didn't he find the bodies first thing in the morning? Seems like unless somebody knew exactly where those bodies were, it would be awfully hard to find them. Something is fishy with the whole thing."

Mary finally wiggled free of the curtains, and decided to change the subject, "Well, I'm certainly glad to be out of that mess. I don't think I'll ever look at curtains the same way again. What were you doing anyway?"

Elli looked slightly sad at the now empty cup sitting nearby, "Well, I was getting a cup of coffee, but you kinda startled me when you all started screaming and stuff and I spilled it on you." She gestured to the large coffee stain on the front of Mary's shirt, "I think we ought to get you some dry clothes or you'll catch your death of a cold. I'll get you a hospital robe to change into while those clothes dry out."

Mary's thoughts instantly turned to the scars covering her body. She couldn't let Elli see them. "No! I mean, no, I'm fine. I just need this thing taken care of." She pointed to her cheek.

"How did you get that anyway?"

Mary immediately considered lying, but she knew that wouldn't do any good for the situation, "My mom slapped me and her ring cut my face." It wasn't the whole truth but it was enough of it.

Elli sensed that Mary wasn't telling everything, but she let it slide, "Oh you poor dear. How could Anna even think about hitting someone as sweet as you? You know I consider you to be like a daughter to me. You can always tell me anything that is bothering you." Little dear, what have you gotten yourself into? Elli didn't know, but she wanted to comfort her nonetheless, so she hugged Mary tightly.

Mary smiled as she returned the comforting embrace, "I know..."

"Come on Mary, let's go get the Doctor and clean up that face of yours."


	36. While You Were Out

**Chapter 36: While You Were Out**

Jack and Mayor Thomas, none too gently, toss the screaming Anna into the abandoned house that had once belonged to Lillia. Jack bolted the door from the outside with the lock they had installed minutes prior. He sighed in relief, "Thank you Mayor Thomas. I don't think I would have been able to do it without you."

"Not a problem at all. I was glad to help. I can't believe that Anna would do something like that. I never thought her to be a violent person."

"What I can't believe is that the two of us had such a time about it! I never would have imagined it would be this tough to arrest one little Anna."

"Yeah, it took an awful lot of time, but I think we did good."

Jack suddenly remembered that he had promised Mary he would be gone only a few minutes. He looked up at the sun and saw that it had been around two hours already, "I'm sorry mayor, I really have to go." He ran away at a brisk pace and hollered back, "Thanks again."

Jack had gone to the mayor's house and they discussed what to do about Anna. At first the mayor was hesitant to believe Jack, but ultimately he wasn't able to deny the truth. Like Jack, the mayor had agreed that they had to prevent any future acts of violence by Anna. They finally decided that the best course of action would be to turn Lillia's now empty house into a temporary prison. They boarded up all of the windows and stripped the inside of all but food and a bed. There was at least enough food for one week, so they had plenty of time to make further, more permanent plans for Anna. With the affixing of a lock to the door, all they had to do was lock up Anna.

That was easier said than done. Anna was in a royal wrath. When they barged into her home to take her in, she went beserk. She yanked a knife off of the counter and had gone at them with everything she had. She swore that she would kill the bastards that sided with her daughter. The fight ended as quick as it had begun. Jack had rammed the butt of the scythe into her gut as hard as she could. Anna fell to her knees and Jack kicked her in the face. She went down hard. Mayor Thomas, wanting not to be left out of the action, stomped down hard on her knife hand and took it away from her. Somehow, Jack knew the mayor would say he had a bigger part of the action later.

Her spirit was crushed, but for just a brief instant. As soon as they had begun to restrain her, she began fighting again. Teeth, nails, fists, and feet, Anna went at them with all she had. It was a long hard fight, but they finally got her to her new prison home.

Jack slowed as he approached the hospital. How was he going to explain this to Mary? He might just have to do a bit of sweet talking so she would be angry at him for taking so long.


	37. Tears of Blood

**Chapter 37: Tears of Blood**

Night had fallen all to fast. Jack sweated profusely under the weight of his stack of books. This was going to be the last load for tonight. He grunted as he straddle walked through his front door so the stack of books would clear the doorframe. Suddenly, the weight in his arms became lighter as Mary took part of the stack. He sighed in relief.

"Thank you Mary. That was heavy."

Mary resisted the urge to scratch at the stiches in her cheek, they itched like crazy. "Why are we doing this again?" She knew the answer already, but anything to take her mind off the itch.

Jack sat his stack of books with the many other stacks of books against the wall of his house, "Well, it's simple. Anna, during her struggle, declared that you were to be expelled from her property. Now, she may be in jail, but she still has certain control over what she owns. Most of the stuff in her house was hers, including such things as your bed. But the books you bought with money you earned with your own two hands doing various small odd jobs for people around town. Since they are your property, she can not forbid you from taking them. Or rather, me from confiscating them for you."

Mary straightened a slightly leaning stack, "But what am I going to do with all these books? We still only have about half of them, and they are taking up so much space in your house."

Jack smiled and put his arms around her waist, "Ah, no, you mean our house. Honey, I swear, if I am not able to buy you your library back, I will build a new library, just for you on that vacant lot in town. Just for you my love."

Mary laughed, "Dear, maybe we should get Gotz to build it. If you try and build a house it might just come crashing down on our heads, and we wouldn't want that."

"Yeah, you are probably right. Him and Saibara really did a wonder job with that wheelchair, didn't they?"

"I know, I can't believe that they built it so fast. And wasn't it so heart warming to see Carter cruising around in the wheelchair? He seemed so happy to be able to move."

"It was nice wasn't it? But what I can't believe is that they let him go back to the church for the night."

"Well, you know Elli and the doctor, they hate to make patients stay in the hospital needlessly. They got me and Carter out as fast as they could."

"But don't forget, they told you to get a good night's sleep. No staying up late now." Jack led Mary over to the bed and they sat down on the edge of it.

"Jack, where are you going to sleep? I can't take your bed." Mary hugged Jack tightly.

Jack laid Mary down and wrapped the bedsheets around her tightly, "Well, I'm just going to sleep outside. Sort of like a little camping trip. The nights are still mild, it will be a while before they become cold. I'll be right here close by you, so don't worry."

Mary smiled innocently, "Why don't you just sleep in the bed with me? Nothing wrong with sleeping in the same bed as long as we keep our hands off of each other."

Jack looked at Mary all bundled up in the bed. A strange, somewhat twisted, smile crossed his face as he looked at her. It would be so easy. There she was, helpless before him. His scythe was right there, on his back. It would take but an instant to pull it free and with a mighty swing he could pierce her. The blood would rush forth. The ecstasy of the moment. It would bubble forth, so beautifully. The red, it would look so lovely upon her. The warmth of the blood on his hands, the smell filling his nostrils. The ultimate intimacy of life being shared through her death...

His smile and his silence was scaring Mary. She cautiously laid a hand upon him, "Jack?"

Realization dawned upon Jack's face. He stared at Mary wide eyed, shocked, unable to comprehend what he had been thinking. He couldn't... He wouldn't... "No!" He screamed as he lept forth and stumbled away from the bed in panic, "Do you hear me? I won't do it!" He franticly fumbled with the doorknob, so terrified he temporarily forgot how to open the door. He finally managed to get it open, went through and slammed it closed. He fell back against the door and slowly slide down to the ground, breathing heavily...

Mary curled herself up in the blankets of her bed, "Jack, what's wrong? I wish... I wish I knew what it is that plagues your mind... I wish you would tell me what's wrong. Then we could take comfort in each other." She ran her hand across a random scar, "My scars are on the outside, but I think yours are on the inside. I want to make you feel better, but I can't if you won't tell me what's wrong. I love you so much, I just don't want you to hurt."

Outside, Jack pulled himself away from the wall and lay down nearby the front door. His scythe was poking him in the back so he pulled it off and threw it to the side. He curled up in a little ball. He didn't want to hurt Mary, he really didn't. Yet something inside was telling him too. He couldn't do it. He had to go to sleep. Everything would be better in the morning.


	38. Enter Shadow Goddess

To prepare for what I know is coming. THIS ISN'T THE END OF THE STORY. I still have another 15 or so chapters in me. Will this story ever end? I said there would be only 10 more chapters 6 chapters ago.**  
**

**Chapter 38: Enter Shadow Goddess**

Jack awoke the next morning as the first rays of the dawn sun peaked over the mountains. He was always a morning person. He was feeling better after a good night's sleep, despite being covered in dew and shivering slightly. Mary surely wasn't awake yet. Jack needed to make up for his unspoken sin against her. An apology was in order. He stretched, "So, what can I do for you dear Mary?"

He sat, pondering it for a moment while fiddling with a blade of grass. Something that would make her smile. Something that he could do before she woke up. A little surprise he could give her to make her so happy. He stared at the grass in his hand. A bouquet of handpicked flowers! He could go gather up a beautiful bouquet of flowers and give them to her when she wakes up. If he hurried, he could get down to Goddess Pond, that being where the best flowers grew, and be back before Mary would awaken. The perfect way to say he was sorry and that he loved her. Jack started up into a brisk jog on his way down to the pond.

Jack looked at the fistful of flowers he had gathered so far. Nothing too fancy, just some Pink Cat Grass and some early Magic Blue Grass and a few other little things he thought looked pretty in the bouquet.

He knelt down next to the water and picked a small yellow flower. He looked up at the small waterfall that fed the pond. It brought back memories of childhood stories. They said that the Harvest Goddess lived here and that this pond was enchanted. Supposedly, if he gave an offering to the Harvest Goddess here, it would bring him good luck.

Jack picked out one of his less impressive flowers and laid it at the waters edge. A little superstition couldn't hurt anyone. He could give just a small offering to the goddess, if she was out there. He watched as the water carried the little pink flower away, just barely floating on the surface. "Harvest Goddess, hear my plea. Please give me your blessing upon my marriage to Mary." Jack stood up as the flower floated away and got caught in a small eddy.

Before Jack's eyes, the eddy grew into a regular whirlpool. The spinning vortex in the center of the pond grew as a figure arose from its center. As soon as her feet cleared the surface, the whirlpool collapsed back into itself, sending up a shower of crystalline water droplets all around her. Through the mist he could see that she was beautiful woman with deep green hair wearing a dress of blue and wrapped in many layers transparent green silk. She raised her hand and the midair water froze in place. They began to slowly swirl around her, refracting the sunlight and showering her in rainbow light.

Jack fell before her in awe. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. He wasn't worthy of her presence. Her beauty wasn't human; it was beyond something any mere mortal could ever hope to achieve. She hovered in midair, amid hundreds of dancing miniature rainbows, smiling, seemingly waiting for Jack to say something. He wanted to say so much. Why did she choose to grace him with her presence? Why him of all people? Yet he couldn't make words come out of his mouth.

Slowly he raised his head up at her. He hadn't even noticed he had been bowing. He looked at her face and for the first time made eye contact. A red light dwelled deep behind her emerald green eyes. Jack stared at them, being drawn in, and he suddenly felt very silly. Here he was before a goddess no less, and he was going to let her go without saying something, anything, to her? His mind was still drawing a blank though, but he had to say something, "Harvest Goddess?"

Her smile broke into a frown, "No!" Her voice echoed, loud as thunder crack. Jack quailed at the sound. With that word the prisms of water turned to stone and dropped into the pond. The instant the light show had ended, she dropped her facade. A raging dark aura enveloped her and her form began to change. Her great voice called out again, "I am the Shadow Goddess!"

With the evocation of her name, dark clouds rumbled forth from the heavens, blocking out the sun and casting the dawn into night. But Jack barely gave that a second thought; he was entranced by the transformation unfolding before him.

Her turquoise hair, now unbound, floated outwards in a turbulent mass. Despite its roaring madness, no strand was quite touching any other. From the base of each hair, a thin beam of light shot forth and raced down to the tip, leaving a black void in its wake. What remained was hair that was blacker than black. The color black didn't describe it so much as the absolute and complete absence of any light. Next was her dress. The many layers morphed together into a single simple black sheet, not quite a robe. It was formfitting around the body yet wide and free flowing around her arms and legs. At the edges of the sleeves and around her feet, the new black robe faded away into vapor.

The dark aura around her weakened to a dull roar and her long hair slowly fell to a more relaxed position hanging down, coming to rest below her waist. As the last few wild wisps of hair fell in line with the rest, the aura relaxed too, becoming little more than a faint line around her. Her guise was gone. The woman who now stood in the air above Jack was in her entirety, the Shadow Goddess.


	39. The Creature Before Me

Oh no, very bad, I forgot to give credit where credit is due. The Shadow Goddess is an original character created by a friend of mine, Butterscotch. I have permission to use the character and the chapter meets Butterscotch's approval. So, she's not mine. Just want to clear that up. I think it's clear enough in the chapter, but essentially, the Shadow Goddess is the counter to the Harvest Goddess. Like Jesus and the AntiChrist. Similar concept.

To the reviewer who simply said, WTF, just keep reading. To anyone else who read it and declined to say the same thing, just keep reading. Everything will return to normal in chapter 41. I'm going to try to put up the next 3 all at once. I posted them somewhere else all together, and everyone was like "Yay,"apparently, posting them seperately isn't a good idea because all I get is "WTF."

**Chapter 39: The Creature Before Me**

Jack had yet to look upon her face. He was too terrified. Her voice boomed out again, "Look upon the one you called for!"

Jack's voice echoed the fear he had, "I. asked for the Harvest Goddess."

"Your words asked for a blessing from the Harvest Goddess. Your black heart, the evil which consumes your mind, unwittingly spoke those words to me."

Jack cried out, "I'm not evil!"

"Silence!" The Shadow Goddess shouted with unparalleled power. Jack was knocked backwards by the strength of her voice. He clasped his hands over his ears in pain. Somewhere up on the cliff behind her, a rock was jarred loose and fell into the pond. The sound of the splash went unheard as the echo of her word ripped forth through the air again. Her voice took on something closer to her normal tone, "How dare you come before me, request my presence, and then try to lie to me? Now look at me!" Thunder crashed in the sky.

Jack dared not to look at her, but he feared more to disobey her. He finally looked fully upon her face. To his horror, her face resembled a skull, yet somehow, disgusting though it was to even consider it, there was a disturbing hint of underlying exquisite beauty clinging to it that some part deep inside of Jack still found attractive. Her soft smooth skin was nearly transparent, and Jack could see dark shadows under her cheekbones, and dark hollows highlighting her eyes. The eyes that burned round and red like living flame. It was in those eyes that Jack saw with ease the inner beauty her soul possessed. He could not deny it, something in those eyes felt warm and comforting to him, boosting his confidence.

Jack knew of her great power. He remembered Carter talking about the Shadow Goddess in church. He needed to stall for time while he tried to think of some way to escape her. Was there even a way to escape omnipotent evil? "And who exactly are you Shadow Goddess?"

She smirked, "I am who I am. I have been called the dark counterpart to my sister the Shadow Goddess. My powers are, as you would term it, evil. I hold dominion over the night, plagues, death, and the darkness in human souls. But I'm not really evil, you see. I'm just doing my part to cleanse this world. And yes, I do know you are stalling for time. To answer your unspoken question, you cannot escape me. For I know everything intimate detail about you, maybe even more than you know yourself. We are very much alike you see."

"I'm nothing like you." Jack's voice faltered, his confidence fading away so quickly after he had found it.

"Oh no? How are you going to defend your actions? The poor people who died as a direct result of your actions. Won. Harris." When she exclaimed each name, she spoke in a perfect impression of the victim's voices, as if they were partaking in a roll call of the dead, calling out to Jack through her, "Manna. Kai. Popuri. Lillia. Rick."

"I'm not evil! I was doing what had to be done! I was." His voice trailed off.

"Just doing your part to cleanse the town of their evil? Oh yes, we are so very much alike indeed." She laughed a laugh eerily similar to Anna's, "And what of the others. That one close to you that you hurt. He was a close friend of yours. Carter. Why did you hurt him?"

"I don't know why! Everything was just so out of my control. I lost control. Carter is my friend."

"And there was another, you had the intent to hurt. I do believe that her name was-"

Jack started crying, pleading with the Shadow Goddess, "Stop it! Leave her out of this!" He couldn't bear to hear her voice come out of that demon's mouth.

"Mary!" Her voice rang true in a perfect impression of Jack's fiance. With the calling of the name, the Shadow Goddess once again changed form. Jack stared intently at her face despite himself. He watched as one by one her features clicked into place. The last thing to change were her eyes. The red seemed to fade away, becoming diluted in a sea of blue. Jack had to remember, remember it wasn't her. Yet, her form was so perfect, so exactly like Mary's, how could it not be her in the flesh? "Jack?" Her voice called out, sad, pleading, seemingly reaching out for him, "Why? How could you even consider hurting me? I thought you loved me."

Jack sat down, crying, instantly forgetting everything but Mary before him, "I'm so sorry. I love you. Mary, I love you so much."

"How can I ever believe it Jack? You were going to hurt me, take delight in it. You can't take it back."

"Please, forgive me. I was so wrong Mary."

Slowly, Mary floated towards him, landing gently on the ground with first one foot, then the other. She walked to the pitiful form before her. Jack looked up at the object of his affections. She knelt down beside his quivering form, "I love you too Jack, but do you love me? How can you prove it? Prove it to me with a kiss. Show me how much you love me. Give yourself over to me. Surrender to me."


	40. Wraith of a Goddess

**Chapter 40: Wraith of a Goddess**

Jack looked up at Mary's sweet face. He wanted her so badly, he ached with need. He slowly leaned towards her, to give her his kiss, staring into her deep blue eyes the whole time. Something was there that didn't belong. Behind her eyes, like a shadow of the real thing, were the crimson eyes of the Shadow Goddess. Everything came back to him in a rush. He fell backwards and crawled away rapidly, "No!"

The sweet face of Mary contorted as she howled in rage. The Shadow Goddess, still under the guise of Mary, rose back up into the air. The dark clouds in the sky rolled rapidly and lightning struck the earth in front of Jack, sending up a shower of dirt. The great voice of the Shadow Goddess echoed forth from her form. Jack wondered how Mary's body could take the force of it without being ripped to shreds, "How dare you refuse me?"

Jack coughed and tried to brush the dirt off from him, "You aren't Mary. I lost myself for a moment, but you can't fool me a second time."

"You will do as I say, even if I have to break you to do it." With a wicked laugh, she raised her hands up to the sky. "You have nothing that can stand against me!" Her dark aura flared up again, and Jack heard a great shrill sound coming from one side. He looked for the origin of the sound and saw a great wind wiping across the land in the distance. Everything it touched died before it. Grass turned brown, shriveled away into dust. Leaves fell from the trees and were carried away as they blacked upon the evil wind. Jack braced himself as the wall of dead debris slammed into him.

Even though Jack was knocked to the ground by the force of the wind, he seemed unharmed. He brushed the rotting flora from his body and stood to face her. Everything around him was dead. The world around him was dead. Even the pond itself seemed to have lost it's life to the wind. A chill came over him. Jack was the only thing alive in a world of death besides this horrible fake Mary, "What have you done?"

"Do you like my handiwork? Purification through death. The only true purity in the world is the darkness. For white is made impure by the light itself. Only darkness is truly pure. True darkness can only be born through death. Don't you see now? Isn't death wonderful?"

"You are sick and twisted! I am nothing like you."

Once again the Shadow Goddess in the guise of Mary began floating down to Jack, "Is that any way to talk to your future wife?"

"Stop saying that! You aren't Mary! You are disgusting blight. Remove that mask at once." She was finally close enough, "Or I will!" He swung his fist hard into the face of the Shadow Goddess. Jack laughed as his fist sliced through the air towards her. He'd screw up her face so bad, she'd never look like Mary again. Crush her face with his fist. Break her nose, shatter the bone. Maybe knock loose a tooth or too. She would pay for trying to mess with him.

His fist past right through her face. Jack fell forward as the Shadow Goddess began laughing herself. He couldn't help but think, her laugh really does sound like Anna's. Jack fell forward, fell through her, fell into her. The darkness swarmed around him.

Jack sat there, in the darkness, the world around him seemingly erased from existence. Was this what the Shadow Goddess meant when she said pure darkness? There was nothing anywhere. She was right, it was beautiful in a strange sort of way. Somehow, he felt like he was a blight upon the land. The world around him was perfectly uniform until it came to him, till the darkness reached him, shattering the perfection. He was intruding upon the sanctity of this place.

Mary's voice came from everywhere at once, but seemingly nowhere, "Now you have acted upon your violent nature towards me. How can you ever hope to restrain yourself? If you were to be let to live, then you would certainly kill me one day. How could I marry you?"

"I love Mary!"

"What about all the others you killed now? Why don't we let them speak for your sins? See if they think you are worthy of me. What do you say?"

Jack growled, "What are you talking about?"

Many voices rang out from all sides, all speaking the same words in perfect synchronization, "Never forgive him." From the darkness, seven forms detached themselves and approached Jack, becoming more clear with each step.

"What do you think we should do with my ex-future-husband then?"

"He must die to rectify our own untimely deaths."

Jack stiffened. He knew now that they were his victims. His hand reflexively reached for the scythe on his back. It wasn't there. Jack's eyes grew wide as he stared at the tightening circle of vengeful beings. He must have left it next to where he had been sleeping last night and forgotten to strap his scythe back on to his back in the morning. Won. Harris. Manna. Kai. Popuri. Lillia. Rick. They were all coming to seek their revenge. Jack cracked his knuckles and took a fighting pose. He was ready for them anyway. He'd fight them with his bare fists. They had died once, he could kill them again.


	41. The Nightmare Ends

**Chapter 41: The Nightmare Ends**

Jack laughed in spite of his fear. This was it. He was doomed to die in the darkness. He was going to give them hell though. He watched as each approached. Which one was the weakest? He'd take out the weakest first. Their numbers were too great, they'd simply overwhelm him. Killing the two weakest people would be more helpful than killing the strongest. He had to be fast. He laughed again. Silly wasn't it, making plans in the face of death.

Jack turned suddenly and rammed his fist hard into the stomach of Popuri. She didn't even flinch as she grabbed his wrist and wrenched it back. Jack screamed out in pain as the bone snapped. Popuri wasn't this strong, the darkness of their death, the power of the Shadow Goddess, and the their cruel intent must be fueling them. If he couldn't even hurt Popuri, he stood no chance against the swarm coming towards him.

Mary's form appeared above his head, "So you understand now? You have no chance. You will die. Have fun my love."

Jack screamed out again as two people grabbed his legs from behind and dragged him to the ground. He craned his neck to see just as Lillia stomped the heel of her shoe down on the inside of his knee. He howled in pain as his kneecap shattered, bone fragments embedding themselves in and around his leg.

The world around him spun from the pain. Won grabbed his arm and yanked it hard. Kai took to snapping each finger of Jack's other hand individually. One by one, they were breaking every bone in his body. Jack screamed out and arched his back in rage and agony against the creatures holding him down. He felt Manna's and Rick's teeth dig deep into his flesh. Harris grabbed Jack's head by the hair and bashed his face into the ground. With every bone crushing blow dealt to him, Jack screamed anew.

Though he couldn't see her this time, Mary's voice called out to him again. Yet this time, it was seemingly kinder, concerned, and with a hint of fear behind it, "Jack, please wake up."

Jack spasmed from the pain. He gritted his teeth and forced through the pain to answer, managing only a single word before succumbing to the pain again, "What?"

"Jack, listen to me. You have to wake up. I'm here for you. Trust me." Mary leaned over his writhing form, not wanting to get too close for fear of being hurt, yet wanting still to hold him tight, to comfort him in his pain. "Wake up from your nightmare."

Jack's eyes opened wide as he screamed out in pain. The world around him was still dark, but it was the normal dark of night. There was his scythe at his side, where he had left it. He had to fight through the pain, the suffering. With every ounce of strength in his body, Jack reached the scythe and put it to the neck of Mary. She was the Shadow Goddess, and now she was going to die. "Say your last words demon!" Pain shot through Jack's arm and he dropped the scythe to the ground as he followed through with a fall of his own.

Mary looked at him with tearful eyes. He nearly killed her without meaning to. Jack wasn't in his right mind now. He needed help, she wouldn't blame him for his actions, he was just acting upon whatever happened in his nightmare. He had been living a stressful life lately. It wasn't his fault at all.

She knelt by his shivering form and put her arms around him. "Don't worry Jack. I love you, I won't leave you." She looked deep into his brown eyes and recognition sparked in his eyes. He stopped struggling and his body relaxed except for the occasional spasm of pain. She never should have let him sleep outside. It was all her fault. "I'm so sorry Jack."

She braced herself and lifted Jack up off of the ground in her arms. Struggling under his weight, she managed to carry him inside and lay him on the bed. She wrapped all the blankets she could around him, trying to warm his form. Jack moaned and said something incoherent. She leaned closer and beckoned Jack to speak again. He managed little above a whisper, "Stop the pain, please."

"What is wrong?"

His voice turned angry, "My broken and bleeding body. Take my scythe and kill me. End my pain if you love me."

Mary began crying, "There is nothing wrong with you Jack. You are unharmed."

Jack's head rolled to one side, not wanting to exert the effort to hold it up, "Don't lie to me. They were trying to kill me. The pain is so great."

"I'm not lying. You were having a nightmare. I heard you screaming and came outside out of fear for you. I'll do whatever I can to help you. But now you have to relax. Your dream was very real to you, the memory of the pain of whatever happened to you is still plaguing you. But I promise, it will go away in time." She kissed Jack lightly on the forehead and stood up.

"Mary?"

She looked back down at him, "Yes?"

"Mary, I didn't mean what I said before. Please don't leave me. I want to keep you close by. Please stay close to me. I love you."

Mary lay back down on the bed next to Jack and put one arm around him to help comfort him. "I love you too. I promise Jack, I won't leave you."


	42. It's Mary's Scythe Now

I was feeling a bit random when I wrote this chapter (and like I wasn't for the past several chapters?). I'm so close to the end I can taste it, all I'm doing now is working on how to set up for the ending. And that is turning out to be harder than I expected. But I can assure you, at least one more person will die before this story ends.

**Chapter 42: It's Mary's Scythe Now**

Jack awoke to a wonderful smell of breakfast cooking. He sat up and winced in pain. The nightmare came back to him in a rush. But, he thought with a sigh, it was a nightmare, and nothing more. Then why did his body still feel the pain of every malicious blow that had been dealt to him? Why was the dream so crystal clear that he could replay even the most minute detail in vivid color? It felt so real, more so than reality itself, yet why did he not have a single wound upon his miserable body? It couldn't have been more than a dream.

"I see that my one true love has finally awakened from his timeless slumber, and now that he hath done so, we will be able to live happily ever after."

Jack's head hurt to much to try and figure that out, "Err... What?"

Mary let out an exasperated sigh, "Asleep. You've been asleep for a long time. It's almost noon. I figured you would wake up soon so I made you breakfast."

Jack groaned and got out of bed, doing his best to ignore the pain, "Thanks." He placed a foot on the ground and tried to put his weight upon it, but quickly pulled it back as he yelped out in pain.

Mary rushed over to his side and put her arms around him, "What are you doing? What's wrong?"

Jack's face was all screwed up in pain, "It hurts, what does it look like?"

Mary carefully helped Jack lie back down in bed, "I can't believe I didn't listen to you last night when you said you were hurting. I should have listened. Who knows what could be wrong with you? I don't want you to die."

"Mary, it's okay."

"No it's not. Anything could be wrong with you, something deadly even. You might have a damaged internal organ or something."

"I'm fine Mary," Jack lied.

"No you're not. I'm going to go get the doctor right now and bring him down here."

Jack tried to get up but Mary held him down with little effort, "I need to get on with my patrols. If it will make you feel better, I'll stop by the hospital and get the doctor to take a quick look at me."

"You will do no such think Jack." Mary took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone, "I love you, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I will do your patrols today, and you are going to stay in bed." She went and retrieved Jack's scythe from next to the door where she had brought it inside this morning.

"You can't Mary."

"I can and I will. You are in no shape to be going anywhere. Please try to rest while I get the doctor. You can trust that the town will be safe in my hands."

Jack sighed in submission, "Your right hand is too high up."

"What?"

"The way you are holding the scythe. Lower your right hand some. You will hit yourself on the side of the head if you tried to swing it holding it like that."

Mary adjusted her grip, "Like this?"

Jack smiled, "Like that Mary."


	43. Doctor's Orders

**Chapter 43: Doctor's Orders**

The doctor stood next to Mary over Jack's bed. He sighed and shrugged, "Well, I frankly can't tell what's wrong with you. Your pain patterns don't make any sense. But I can certainly put your mind to rest on that you don't have any internal injuries. I'd swear, if it wasn't for the fact that you don't have a scratch on you, that you had fallen down a cliff or something."

Mary pleaded with the doctor, "Isn't there anything you can do for Jack? He's in such horrible pain."

"I'm fine, I can grin and bare it." Jack said resentfully.

The doctor turned around and rummaged through his black bag full of medicines and such that he brought with him. "This is why I don't normally make house calls." He mumbled to himself, "Now where is it? Oh wait, here it is!" The doctor turned to face Jack holding a small bottle of pills. "This is some industrial strength pain reliever. You are mighty sore, so I figure something strong. You'll probably fall asleep soon after taking it, but that's a good thing since you could use sleep in your condition.

"This is a very powerful drug, so you need to take it carefully or you might become addicted to it. Take three now, two this night and two the next morning. Then a single pill twice daily till you run out. That should make you back as good as new."

Mary took the bottle out of the doctors hand, "So you think Jack will be alright?"

"He'll be fine, just out of it for a little while. No heavy labor either for at least a week. That means no farming Jack."

"Well, I haven't exactly had much time lately to take care of the farm, with all the murders and stuff," admitted Jack, "The whole thing is starting to be overrun by weeds. But it's almost harvest time for some of my crops, and they are still in good enough shape that I can sell them. I can't just let the rot on the vine."

"I'll do it Jack. Not to worry."

"Mary, please, you're already doing so much."

"Jack's absolutely right, the last thing you want is for dirt to get into that stitching job I did on your face. It could get infected, and that will make a nasty mess of your face."

"But I-"

"But nothing. You heard the doctor. It would be a very bad idea to risk ruining that beautiful face of yours."

Mary blushed, "Oh, I'm not beautiful."

"Oh yes you are my love. You are the most beautiful lady in all of the town, and we are soon to be wed." Jack meant it with all of his heart.

Mary knew he was lying. She'd gone her whole life being told by her mother how ugly she was, how she wasn't worth anything. But, it still made her feel good inside to be told she was beautiful, even if she knew it was a lie. Jack was so sweet to her; how could she not help him out in his time of need? She'd harvest his crops for him, even if she had to do it in secret. "Oh yes, what about our wedding? I can't wait for you and me to become we."

"I don't know. I hope we can get married as soon as possible. I want to have you by my side forever."

The doctor cleared his throat, "I'm sorry, but I really don't think Jack or you should be going anywhere soon. You're going to have to postpone your marriage for a little while now. At least not for a week should either of you be doing anything really much at all. Now I think I'm being nice for not making you two have to stay in the hospital while you heal, but I expect you to take care of yourself while you are at home. I want you to follow my orders."

A sly smile crossed Mary's face as the beginnings of a plan began to form in her mind, "Alright. I won't let Jack leave the house until he's all better."

"Good. Well, I have to go now." The doctor pointed at the bottle of medicine in Mary's hand, "Remember, give him three pills now. Two tonight and in the morning. One twice a day after that until they are gone. Now," he bent down to pick up his medicine bag, "I bid you all farewell."

Mary waited for the doctor to leave before retrieving a glass of water. "Now Jack, be a good little boy, and take your medicine now."

"I am so not sick. I'm fine. I don't need any medicine. Just a little rest."

Mary gave him the sweetest baby eyes she could muster up, "Please? For little old me?"

Jack grinned, "That's not fair. How am I supposed to refuse such a cute little face like yours? Alright." He took the three pills and swallowed them with a swill of water. His face grimiced in disgust.

Mary gently hugged Jack, "That's my darling. Now, you get some good rest. I'll just be out patroling the city, so don't you worry none at all."

Jack nodded contently as Mary wrapped him up in the blankets. She was so kind, sweet and beautiful. A more wonderful wife he could never hope to have. 


	44. Mary's Evil Plan

**Chapter 44: Mary's Evil Plan**

Night was falling and the darkness was beginning to consume everything. In the center of Rose Square, Mary stood all alone. Nobody as far as she could see. She gripped the scythe tight in her right hand. She ran the tip of her index finger of her left hand along the edge of the blade, from the base where it was attached to the wooden pole all the way to the point.

Mary paused, and looked warily from side to side to make sure that nobody was watching her. Staring at the last sliver of the sun setting over the horizon, she raised the scythe high above her head and screamed out in rage, proclaiming the glory of her existence, "Finally! My evil plan has been set into motion. All the pieces are coming into place. It will only be a matter of time before the whole town falls to their knees before me." She laughed long and deep, a wild and dangerous laugh.

Suddenly, her evil laughter collapsed into uncontrolled giggling as she fell to the ground clutching her side, "Oh my goodness, I've always wanted to do something like that." She managed to blurt out the words through her wild laughter at her display of 'evil.' She tried to put on a straight face as she stood up and brushed herself off. "Now I know why all the villains in books do evil declarations. It's so much fun."

With that, Mary once again began giggling against her will even as she tried her hardest to contain it. She started walking back to Jack's home, "Evil plan." She snickered again. That was one of the most fun things she had done in a long time. She felt so powerful with the scythe in her hands that she felt that she had to try, just once, a nice villainous rant.

Well, she did have a plan, a very good plan. She tried to laugh evilly again, but it kept being interrupted by little bits of giggling.

Mary had spent much of the day talking to various citizens of the city. She reminded everyone to stay locked in doors if at all possible, as all but one of the murders had happened outside people's homes. Everyone was going to stay inside, Mary was quite confident of it, especially after the scolding she gave some of them. She took some guilty pleasure in yelling at those who opened their front door to her too readily. Caution was the best defense, she reminded them, for they didn't know for sure that it wasn't Mary herself who was the murder. She wasn't certain that Zack was the killer anymore, especially since Elli told about her suspicions of Gotz.

Most of all, Mary hoped that by taking precautions, she could prevent another murder. So far, Jack's showing off of his strength seemed to have done nothing to intimidate the murderer, and she seriously doubted that her frail frame could do a better job in that aspect. She believed that maybe her new plan of defense would work. If there wasn't anyone around to be a victim, then there would be no murders. She would be stopping the killer indirectly, without confronting him, but the result would be the same. The most important thing was to save lives.

Some time was also spent making wedding plans. She was determined to have the wedding on the original day planned. If they let it be delayed, the would only be surrendering victory to Anna. The wedding would happen within the week, that is, if Mary had anything to do with it.

Since she had fallen out of her mother's good graces, if it could honestly be said that she was ever in her mother's good graces, Mary needed to get a wedding dress elsewhere. She found what she needed in the elderly Ellen, who was more than happy to have her wedding dress be worn by Mary. It was an ancient thing, but Mary loved it. It was stark white and covered in beautiful lace. Best of all, it somehow fit her perfectly, meaning that they wouldn't have to do any alterations. It was almost as if the dress had been made just for her.

It wasn't just Ellen that was willing to help out. There was hardly a person who didn't promise to donate at least some small thing to benefit the wedding. Everyone wanted so badly to play a part in making Jack and Mary's wedding perfect. Ann and her father, Doug, were going to make the wedding cake. Saibara the blacksmith was going to forge them wedding rings by free, by far the biggest of the gifts offered. Duke, despite still being depressed over the murder of his wife, Manna, was very eager to give them wine to go with the wedding dinner that Sasha was cooking. Her father, feeling horrible about the arrest of Anna, still decided to give his tuxedo from his own wedding to Jack. Those that didn't have something special to donate were giving flowers from one of the many personal gardens that dotted the city. It was wonderful how everyone was doing something to help their marriage be one of the most beautiful weddings the town ever had.


	45. The Wedding

**Author's Note:** This is not the end! Though I am predicting only 5-6 more chapters. All hell is waiting to break loose.

**Chapter 45: The Wedding**

Jack stood outside of the church. He was wearing the tuxedo given to him by Mary's father. Inside, he could hear the organ's beautiful wedding music played by the bride herself. Mary had insisted upon it. There was no one else in the town who knew how to play the organ, and she said that it wouldn't be a proper wedding without music. Of course, no proper wedding would have the bride playing the organ, but Jack felt it was wise not to say that.

He took a deep breath and braced himself to enter the church. The whole town was inside, waiting for him. Somehow, Jack knew what Mary was going to do when he opened the door. He was beginning to get used to her somewhat strange sense of humor. There was more than one reason that she had wanted to play that organ.

He lifted his hat slightly and swept his hair back under it neatly. He was ready. He gripped the handles of the church doors and opened them. The instant the door began to squeak open, the music cut off. When Jack stepped through, Mary started playing again, this time, a vigorous rendition of the song "Here Comes the Bride." Jack burst out laughing, as did most of the people in the church. Proper wedding indeed! He walked down the aisle, waving at a few people, generally having fun with the whole thing.

Carter sat at the end of the aisle in front of the pulpit in a large chair, waiting for them to arrive. His hands were resting in his lap, holding a book, with his elbows on the arms of the chair. Jack stopped in front of him. Mary stood up from her organ and walked slowly over to stand beside Jack, her white wedding dress flowing gently, caressing her soft form. Jack smiled and she smiled back. He had never seen her so beautiful as she was today, even with the stitches in her face.

They nodded to Carter together, letting him know they were ready. Carter raised his arms, gesturing to the crowd in front of him, "We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Jack and Mary under the holy light of the Harvest Goddess for the rest of their days. They have come here, so that their lives may be better as one then they were as two." He turned to Jack, "Do you, Jack, take Mary to be your wife, from this day forward, to have and to hold, to love in loss as in gain no matter what may come your way, for the rest of your life?" Carter deliberately left out the 'till death do you part.'

"I do."

"And do you, Mary-"

"I do."

Carter sighed. The whole proper wedding thing was a joke, it really was. Carter held up his two hands palm up in front of him. Cradled in each hand was a ring. He closed his eyes, bowed his head and offered a prayer, "Dear Harvest Goddess. Bless the rings in my hands and that which they symbolize, the eternal love of the two before me." He once again deliberately changed the word 'undying' to 'eternal,' "May the bond which these rings represent never be broken."

He opened his eyes, "If anyone objects to this wedding, speak now or forever hold your peace." Jack and Mary held their breath, seriously expecting Anna to burst through the door wielding a knife, or a lit torch, or something.

Carter held out the rings to Jack and Mary, "Take these rings, and place them upon the forth finger of the other's right hand to represent the love you give to each other."

The both took a ring from Carter's outstretched hands. Jack took Mary's petite hand in his, gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb as he slide the ring on her finger. He whispered to her, too low for anyone but Mary to hear, "With this I give you my love."

Mary's face flushed as she took hold of Jack's muscular hand. She sighed joyfully at holding his hand in hers. It felt so wonderful to hold such a powerful person's hand. She could just hold it forever. Carter coughed once, and Mary remembered the ring. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red as she took her ring and slide it onto Jack's finger. She whispered back to him, "I'll love you forever, no matter what."

Carter placed his book behind his back in the chair and gripped the end's of the chair's arm hard. He grunted as he lifted himself up into the air. His feet sat flat to the floor, his knees slightly bent from his limp legs being slightly too long, as he stood supported solely by the strength in his arms. Everyone, shocked by the effort he was putting forth, immediately started clapping and cheering him onward. He was strained, but managed to smile at Jack and Mary, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride." He collapsed back into the chair, tired, but glad that he was able to at least stand for the final pronouncement.

Jack took Mary into his arms, and she wrapped her arms around him. They kissed long and deep to the clapping and cheering of those who had come to see them. Finally, breaking apart, Jack and Mary, hands entwined turned to Carter, as Jack spoke for them "Thank you Carter, for making our wedding special, but you know you didn't have to do that for us. We were happy enough just to have you here to wed us."

Carter grinned widely, "I know I didn't have to. I just wanted to do it for you."


	46. One Secret Freely Given

**Chapter 46: One Secret Freely Given**

Jack walked with his arm around Mary's waist. The dirt road changed to soft grass under their feet as the passed through the gated entrance to Jack's farm. Off to the west, there was a brilliant sunset, one of the most colorful they could ever remember seeing.

Jack looked over at his somewhat barren farmland, the harvest being complete. Yesterday, the first day that he had been feeling well enough to work, Jack went out to try and save what was left of the crop before it had all rotted away or was eaten by animals. He had been puzzled at first, because not only was there far less crops on the vine than he remembered, but of the crops that were still there, not a single one was overripe or rotting. It took him a little bit to figure out, but he finally realized that Mary had tended to the farm during his incapacitation, shipping the ripest crops before they went bad.

Most people didn't know the true Mary. She was so much deeper than they believed. Despite her shyness and tendency to bury herself in the world of books, she was so much more. Mary lived a double life of sorts. For she also had a somewhat tomboyish interest in the outside world that she tried very hard to hide. She loved nature, from the plants and animals all the way down to insects. It often seemed hard to believe that little Mary enjoyed going hiking in the mountains with her father to gather herbs and roots.

Jack stopped outside his home and pulled Mary close to him, "Thank you Mary."

"Uh, you are welcome? What did I do?"

With one hand, he turned and gestured across his farmland, "For helping to save the harvest. It really means a lot to me."

"Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was fun and..." she faded off.

"You found that it was fun getting your hands dirty? Working in the dirt? It is awfully fun isn't it? I can't really blame you." Jack smiled smugly.

Mary blushed something awful. As Jack suspected, she was horribly embarrassed about anyone knowing about her less than feminine outdoor fun, "Well, I guess. Sort of." Her face was turning redder and redder.

"Sell, I guess that's something else we have in common, because I think it's fun too." He paused, considering something, "Do you want to go inside our home, my lovely wife, or would you rather stay outside pretending that you don't like it outside?"

She chuckled, "Since you put it that way."

"Alright, you asked for it!" Jack reached around her and swept Mary off her feet and up into his arms. She squealed with childlike delight as Jack carried her through his front door ceremoniously. He gently sat Mary down on her feet and closed the door behind him.

"So, my handsome husband, thus begins the first night of our new life together."

Jack smiled and they embraced each other. "My one and only love, my beautiful wife, let it be a wonderful life."

They kissed long and passionately as they made their way over to the bed. Mary's hands were around Jack's neck, and his were below the small of her back, running in little circles. Jack found the clasp on Mary's wedding dress and undid it.

As soon as he did that, panic rushed into Mary. Quickly she broke of the kiss and moved her hands to hold up her dress, somewhat needlessly. The modest wedding dress, with it's full covering shoulders and long sleeves wouldn't fall off nearly that easily. Jack looked at her quizzically. Mary didn't want her to see her body, not yet, not without saying something first, "Jack, wait a second."

"What is the matter? Was I moving to fast? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I mean it's my first time and..." Jack flushed at what he had accidentally blurted out in his nervous rush.

"No, Jack, it's not that." She hesitated and looked away from his face, "What if... Would you still love me if I wasn't what you were expecting? If I was uglier than I am?"

"What do you mean Mary? You are beautiful, but I'd love you even if you weren't."

Mary disliked it when Jack lied to her. She knew that she wasn't beautiful. Then again, it was hard to compare her anger at the lie to the joy of hearing those words spoken about her. She could easily forgive the lie for the sake of joy, "How could I know that for certain?"

"Let me ask you a question. Would you love me, even if I may have made some mistakes in the past that you don't know about. If I did some horribly stupid things?"

Mary couldn't possibly think of anything that would destroy her love for Jack, "Of course I'd still love you. I'll love you forever, no matter what."

Jack marveled at her faith in him, but he knew that faith was ill founded. If Mary ever found out the things he had done, well, he just couldn't let that happen. Maybe they could leave town together and then everything would be all better. She would never have to find out. He could start a new life, founded on their love. That was a plan he would have to look into soon. "Well Mary, that is how I feel about you. I will always love you, and no scar," he gently stroked her scarring cheek, "will make you any less beautiful to me."

"Thank you Jack," She carefully stopped holding up her dress, satisfied with those words. She took off Jack's tuxedo jacket and tossed it to one side. With another kiss, she started unbuttoning his shirt. Jack pulled his arms loose and threw away the shirt too. Mary let her self be taken in by his warm muscular body. She laid down on the bed with him, and rested her head on his firm yet smooth chest. How she wished that her skin was as smooth, not covered in horrific scars. Mary began crying, her tears running down Jack's chest, into the crevices between his muscles and making their way down off his body.

He didn't ask, knowing that Mary would tell him what was wrong when she was ready to. He just held her body close to his, and lightly ran his hands across her hair. When she finally looked up at him, Jack just smiled and spoke a few soft words, "Better now? You can always cry on me. I don't mind."

Why was she doing this to him? She knew that she was hurting Jack doing this. He was trying to put on a happy face, but Mary knew that her actions were causing him pain in their delay. She couldn't hold on to the fake dream anymore, she had to let Jack know.

Mary sat up over him. She pulled her hands up to the neck of her dress and began to pull it off of her shoulders, "Please don't hate me Jack. This is what I've been hiding from you." She slide her arms out of the sleeves and let the dress drop down to her waist.

The scars cut across her body in every direction. They varied in every way a scar could. In one place, it looked like her skin had been completely ripped off in a large patch, and had grown back somewhat darker and tighter than the rest of her skin. Through one breast, there was one of the largest scars, a massive cut which should have by all reason split it into two. Down her arms to just below the elbows, every inch of her bared upper body was covered in brutal scar tissue.

Mary looked away from Jack's stunned face, "This is why even during the hottest days of summer, I always wear long sleeve shirts, with high cut necklines. I wear them to hide these. My lower body is covered in them too. I truly am ugly. I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore."

Jack reached his hands up towards her. Mary closed her eyes, fully expecting Jack to push her away in disgust. Instead, he put her arms around her and drew her body near his. She heard weeping. Jack was crying as he cradled her naked body close to him, gently rocking her back and forth, his hands feeling the rough scars on her back that he had yet to see, "How could you think I would hate you? I love you. I wouldn't hate you because of this. It hurts me because of the pain I know you had to endure. I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you. I should have stopped it. I didn't know Anna was doing this to you."

Mary lay with Jack for a long time like that, overjoyed at the love he had for her, and yet still so sad. She took comfort in his strength, and had almost fallen asleep in his arms when a thought came to her. "Jack?"

As sweetly as he could Jack whispered to her, "What?"

"Please don't do something rash towards my mother. I know she's done some wicked things, but she's still my mother."

He nodded his head slowly, and it was only minutes before they had fallen asleep still embracing each other.


	47. Lily

**Chapter 47: Lily**

The drone of rain against the rooftop slowly awakened Mary from her bittersweet dreams. Jack's warm firm body was pressed tightly against her. He was already awake, but he hadn't moved, instead choosing to let Mary continue to sleep on top of him. Now that she was awake, he didn't have to be still anymore. One hand that had been resting on Mary's lower back moved up to stroke her hair, "Good morning Mary."

With a sudden flash of embarrassment, Mary sat up and pulled her dress to cover herself. Even though he was her husband, and she had slept against him bare-chested the whole night, it still felt as if she had done something wrong. She slide one arm at a time back into the sleeves, being careful not to expose herself.

She didn't say anything, the dawning realization of the absurdity of her embarrassment was only making her face turn redder still. The loud constant beating of the rain made the silence between them even more obvious. Finally, she brought herself back, "Sorry Jack."

"For what?"

She moved to sit on the edge of the bed, with her legs off the side, "For sleeping on top of you. You must be awfully sore."

"Nothing a little moving around won't fix." He stretched, "You want something to eat? You've been sleeping in. I think it's almost noon."

"Really? Wow, I've never been much of one to sleep in before."

"Well, maybe you felt really safe tonight."

"Yeah."

Jack got up and went over to the kitchen, "How does eggs and toast sound? I'm not much of a cook."

"Well, just let me get changed, and I'll be in to help."

Jack worked making breakfast while Mary got out of her wedding dress and into some more normal clothes. He never realized before how long it took women to get dressed. He had already finished cooking by the time Mary was finished. They sat down at the table and ate. A loud thunderclap sounded for the first time, and the conversation quickly changed to the storm outside.

"Jack, do you think the animals are going to be okay in this storm?"

"They should be fine. I'll go check on them if you like. Make sure the barn is all properly closed up and stuff." Jack crammed the last bite of food into his mouth.

"The storm only seems to be getting worse. So, make it quick. I'll check the weather, see what this thing is supposed to be doing and if it's going to be getting any worse than it already is. Don't stay outside too long, or you'll get a cold from getting all soaking wet."

Jack got up and grabbed his cloak before he went out the door, "I'll just be a minute."

Outside, there was a strong wind that nearly made Jack lose his cloak right off the bat. He pulled it tight around him as the rain pounded away. Jack check the barn and the chicken coop, and being satisfied that they were all safely locked inside, rushed back into the house.

He took off the dripping cloak and laid it over a chair, "The animals are fine Mary, don't worry. No harm is going to come to them." His clothes were still pretty heavily soaked despite the cloak, and his pants were coated in mud. He looked over at Mary, "Sorry for bring in a mess, I'll clean it right up," Mary looked at him with a horrified stare that chilled Jack far worse than the rain, "What's wrong?"

Mary looked at Jack unblinkingly and raised one hand to point at the television. The voice of the weatherman could be clearly heard, "The good news is that it is headed towards a relatively uninhabited part of the coastland. But for those of you that have been following closely will know, there is a single town directly in huricane Lily's pathway. All telephone and radio communications to the small farming village, Mineral Town, seem to have been mysteriously cut off, and officials say that they have no way of knowing if the citizens have evacuated or not.

"Hurricane Lily, which only two days ago seemed like it was going to go safely out to sea and die out quickly changed it's course. Increasing in power rapidly, it has gone from a category one hurricane back up to a category four as it took a 180 degree turn back towards land. At this point, Mineral Town, the town which the whole country has been praying for has no chance to evacuate if they have not done so yet. They have just begun to feel the edges of the storm sometime early this morning. Hopefully, they realize the storm is a hurricane and will be able to batten down some before it hits and minimize loss of life. The full force of the hurricane will likely hit them sometime around midnight tonight."

"Midnight!" Jack cried out. "A hurricane? We have to warn the townspeople. We have only hours to try and make a building secure enough to survive the storm."

"Jack, what are we going to do?"

"I know what you are going to do. You are going to stay right here, where it's safe for now, and I'm going to go try and warn everybody." He grabbed his soaking wet cloak. What good it was going to do him, he didn't know, but he guessed it was just force of habit to wear a cloak in a storm.

"Jack, don't leave without your scythe."

"What? Why?"

"Because, it's the one of the basic points from my defensive plan. In a chaotic situation, the murderer is more likely to strike, and thus you should be on guard."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." What else could Jack say? That there was no need for him to carry his scythe, because he was safe? No, he couldn't let Mary know. Everyday it seemed like she was getting closer and closer to finding out. He had to get them away from the town, "Mary, if we make it through this, I want us to leave this town. I want us to be safe, away from the killing. I don't want to lose you. I want us to be safe together."

Mary looked at Jack somewhat surprised, "You want to leave? But you love the farm!"

"I know, but I love you more, and I want to stay with you."

Mary didn't have to think about it for long, "If that's what you want to do, than we will leave. Now go, the town needs their hero." Jack couldn't help but admire the irony as he left.


	48. Take a Little

**Chapter 48: Take a Little**

Gotz ran through the forest as fast as he could, disregarding all safety. His axe was hefted over his shoulder. Mary was in danger, he had to tell her what Jack was. That Jack was the murderer.

Gotz was out doing what he did best that morning, working his hands to the bone chopping wood, and just because it was raining didn't mean he could take a day off. The job didn't make much money, and he needed every penny he could scrap together by working every day. So he went out into the deep, thicker woods, where the branches of the trees themselves blocked out enough of the rain that he could work in a relatively dry enough environment.

He had gotten a good sized pile of dry lumber cut up and stacked under a particularly sheltering tree and was about ready to tie them in the traveling tarp for the long dragging home. Then he saw a flash of lightning followed by the first thunderclap of the storm. Working in the rain was one thing, but being in the forest during a thunderstorm was just plain stupid. He left the wood where it was, hopefully, it would be undamaged when he returned for it tomorrow.

When he had traveled out here, he had searched for the driest route, but on the way out, he didn't care about getting wet, just about getting home without being struck by lightning. He judged roughly which way was home and took the straightest line possible.

Gotz had hardly gone any distance when he stumbled across the dead body of Zack. Strung upside down from a tree by his ankle, his stomach was sliced open, and it appeared that some animals had been feasting upon his flesh. The same Zack that the whole town thought was the murderer.

That was when he started running. His mind put together the puzzle pieces easily. Harris, before he had been killed, had said that while he thought Zack was the murderer, but that Jack was also a suspect. Somehow, in the confusion after Harris had been killed, with Jack offering to temporarily act as the town's guardian, the whole town forgot that that Jack was also supposed to be a suspect. Then, when Jack was incapacitated for a week, and the murders suddenly stopped, why didn't anyone put two and two together? Because of Mary's new defensive plan, that's why. They all thought they that the murderer was being discouraged, when in reality, he was incapable of killing anyone in his state of health.

Gotz burst forth onto the road near the lake at the foot of Mother Hill. He wasn't far from his home, but that wasn't where he was headed any longer. He feared for Mary's life. Now that she was married to Jack, he didn't know what would happen. Would she be safer because Jack truly did love her, or would she be in great danger of being the closest target for Jack's rage? He didn't know why Jack killed, only that he was the murderer. Either way, the first thing he had to do was warn her first.

Gotz swung his ax experimentally, imagining Jack trying to kill him. He was armed and ready, unlike Jack's previous victims, who were not very strong and had been caught off guard. If he had to, he could take Jack out, Gotz was certain of it.

Thunder crashed again; Gotz lost count of how many times he had heard it. The road cut it's way into Jack's farm. With his ax on his shoulder, rain running off him in streams, Gotz went up to the front door of Jack's farmhouse. He didn't want Jack to know what was going on. He wanted to surprise him. Without warning, he threw the door open and ran inside.

Mary quickly turned to the intruder. She fell back a step and screamed. Gotz stood just inside the open doorway, wind and rain roaring into the house, his ax gripped tightly in his hands. Elli had said she suspected that there was a second murderer, Gotz. Now she knew that Elli was right. She was going to die by Gotz's hand.

Lightning flashed in the sky through the open door, momentarily blackening Gotz's face. He took another step towards Mary and brought the ax away from his shoulder. She screamed again and back away to the wall. Heart pounding in her chest, she watched Gotz approach. She didn't want to die. She closed her eyes tightly and cowered away.

"Where is he?" Gotz panted, clearly out of breath.

"What?" Mary asked cautiously, opening one eye.

"Jack, where is Jack? He's the real murderer. I stumbled across Zack's dead body in the woods."

"It's not true!" Mary refused to believe it.

"Tell me where he is. I have to stop this now before he kills again."

"He's been gone for hours," Mary lied, "He went to warn the townsfolk, and with how long he's been gone, he's probably searching the woods for you, to tell you about the hurricane." Mary couldn't tell him the whole truth. That Jack had left only maybe ten minutes ago, and would likely be back any minute. She had to get Gotz away from here before he made a big mistake. Jack was innocent, she knew it. No cold blooded killer could love her so completely. She had to protect Jack.

"This storm is part of a hurricane?"

"Yes, the full force of it will hit tonight. It will only keep getting worse as the day goes on."

Gotz's face blanched, a sight that would have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious. He had to know if she was telling the truth. He studied her face for a moment, but he couldn't see anything wrong in there, "Alright then. I'll go back to my house and get some wood to help board up people's windows. Lock the door behind me, and don't let anyone in for any reason. That includes Jack. Stay inside, your life may depend on it.

"I will," Mary lied again. Gotz hefted his ax back onto his shoulder before going back out into the storm.

"Jack's innocent. I know he is. I have to find him and warn him about Gotz." Mary waited just long enough for Gotz to have left the farm before running out into the wind and rain, "I know you are innocent Jack."


	49. Shattered

**Chapter 49: Shattered**

Jack exited Saibara's house, leaving behind a very worried man. Like many of the other townspeople, he decided it was safest to try and secure his house since there would be no out running the hurricane. Before Jack had even left the house, Saibara began taking apart a chair, planning to use the wood to board up the windows.

Some of the other townsfolk, felt it was safer to go to Duke's winery and take shelter in the wine cellar. While it was possible that the room would flood, it was the most solid structure in town, and wouldn't be likely be damaged by the winds.

Jack didn't know which idea was better, and was going to consult with Mary before making the choice. But first, he had one last person to inform of the hurricane. And she was also the last person he wanted to help, Mary's mother, Anna. He couldn't free her from the makeshift prison, but he also couldn't leave her there. He had only one weak hope, and that was if she wished not to be left in the house, she would let him tie her up and take her to Duke's winery.

Jack unlocked the door to the late Lillia's house and went in. "Anna?" He waited for an answer, but none came. "Anna, I've come to talk to you. I need you to come here now."

"Well if it isn't the bastard husband of that ungrateful little winch of a daughter of mine."

"Shut the hell up! Don't you talk about Mary that way!"

A sharp laugh echoed through the house, "My my, what a temper you have today."

Jack forced himself to calm down. He had promised Mary he wouldn't harm Anna. His voice became more even and controlled, "Anna, I've come to help you."

"Help me? What a joke. You are the one who needs help Jack, or should I call you Jack the Ripper. No, that name's been used. How about Jack the Homicidal Maniac? Has a nice little rhyming ring to it."

Jack quickly got control of himself. Anna was trying to get him to panic, "How long have you known?"

"Does it really matter? You just admitted it. You really are a sick man."

In a flash, Jack's rage bubbled up and his hand rushed to his scythe, "How dare you act like you are better than me. I have seen what you did to Mary."

Anna laughed again, "So you know my little secret? Big deal. The only thing it proves is that we are more alike than you previously thought."

Jack growled angrily, his fist tightening on the scythe, "Don't compare yourself to me. I am nothing like you."

"You are right, we aren't very much alike when you really think about it. I didn't kill in cold blood. Mary lives to see another day, but my friend Manna is gone forever! You are the worst kind of scum." Anna came down the stairs, and Jack immediately turned towards her. In Anna's hand, she gripped a knife tightly.

Jack didn't have time to worry about where she had gotten the knife from. He pulled loose his scythe and held it in front of him, "Don't twist this around. You tortured Mary, caused the worst kinds of pain to her you could. I killed swiftly, they didn't have to suffer. I put them out of their misery. I was doing the right thing. I weep for what I have done, but I had no other choice."

"What a joke, trying to play the righteous hero. You won't even admit the truth to yourself. You lie and try to justify your actions with ridiculous concepts of doing the right thing. The truth is, you killed because you enjoyed it. Just as I enjoyed punishing Mary."

"Shut up!"

"But it was so much fun, and unlike you, I can admit it. Making her bleed cut by cut. Hearing her cry out for help, and knowing she didn't have any hope to actually be saved. Her agonizing screams of pain were beautiful music to me. The whole thing was so much fun."

"You heartless demon!" Jack screamed as he lunged forth, bring his scythe around for the kill. She had hurt Mary so many times over the years, just for fun. Anna had to die. She deserved nothing less.

Anna effortlessly ducked under Jack's scythe, the lethal blade soaring harmlessly through the air over her head. With all her might, Ann rammed her knife upwards towards Jack's chest. She was going to kill him. At the last moment, Jack twisted out of the way, and instead of killing him, the knife buried itself in Jack's shoulder.

He fell to his knees, clutching the pierced shoulder with his other hand. Anna kicked Jack in the side of his head and he crumpled to the ground, the hand of his injured arm loosely gripping the scythe.

Anna laughed as she stood over Jack. She had practiced that move over and over since she had found that small hunting knife in Lillia's dresser. It probably had belonged to Lillia's missing husband. Anna had known that it would only be a matter of time before Jack came to kill her, "Looks like I win Jack. As they say, good always triumphs over evil. You won't be killing anyone anymore."

She watched Jack's hand try to tighten on the scythe. "Naughty Jack," she said as she stomped down hard on his hand. Jack cried out as she twisted the heel of her shoe into the back of his hand. Anna hoped she broke a bone or two.

"Now admit it Jack. Admit that you enjoyed killing all those people, and I will put you out of your misery."

"Never. Burn in hell witch!" Jack spat up at her, but missed entirely.

Anna stomped on Jack's hand repeatedly, not stopping this time until she heard the resounding crunch of breaking bones. Jack bit his lip against the pain, determined not to cry out again. A sharp white bone, smeared with blood, protruded from the back of his hand. Anna knelt down before him, "I'll make a deal. Admit the truth, and when I take Mary back, I'll go easier with her beatings from now on. I'll just make her bleed and stop before her skin begins coming off in sheets. I think that sounds fair, don't you?"

Jack's left hand quickly gripped the knife lodged in his right shoulder. He screamed in both intense rage and excruciating pain as he pulled it free from it's sheath of muscle and bone. His entire being focused on his one immediate need, his desire to kill Anna. The grating pain meant nothing to him compared to the need for Anna's blood. She had to be stopped now. He swung the knife, cutting her cleanly across the face.

Anna fell back in surprise with a yelp of pain. Jack forced himself to stand up, ignoring the shooting pains in his arm. He threw the knife across the room, and switched the scythe from his now useless right hand to his uninjured left.

Anna scrambled backwards, blood gushing from her face wound. Her upper lip hung loosely, nearly cut clean off. Tears streamed down Jack's face, "I don't want to do this, but you must die, I have no other choice. I have changed, and now regret the killing that I have done and am about to do. We hae both done horrible things, but even now you show no remorse. I cannot forgive you."

"I don't remember ever asking for your forgiveness," Anna growled.

Jack's face turned as cold and hard as the steel of his scythe that he raised into the air. Fear showed for the first time on Anna's face as the blade whistled through the air. It cleanly cut through her body, going several inches into the wooden floor. Anna cried out and gripped at the blade with her hands, trying to pull it free from her chest, cutting her hands on the sharp edge in her panic. Her efforts became weaker and weaker.

"I'm didn't want to kill again. Please know that I didn't." Jack watched as her arms fell limp to the side before he pulled the scythe out of the ground. He marched firmly out of the house, wanting nothing to do with the act he had just committed. How could Mary ever forgive him?

He examined himself as he walked. His injured hand was bleeding almost as badly as his shoulder was. Touching the exposed bone made him wince, and Jack decided it was best to leave it alone. His whole right arm was essentially worthless between the two wounds.

Jack stepped out onto the street and looked up to see Mary standing directly in front of him, staring at the bloodstained scythe and at the bloody marks upon his hand and shoulder, the evidence of his murderous deed. 


	50. Ripped Apart

**Chapter 50: Torn Apart**

The wind and rain howled around the two figures standing still in the road, facing each other. The butt of Jack's scythe slowly sank into the heavy mud of the dirt road. The red blood ran quickly from both clothes and blade under the torrent of purifying water. But the rain couldn't wash away what Mary had already seen. The bloodstains were now gone, leaving a freshly cleaned steel blade that shone brilliantly with every flash of lightning, but the blood was still on Jack in her mind.

With a loud squishing plop, Jack pulled his scythe free from the mud and awkwardly slipped it into it's strap on his back with his left hand. He didn't want Mary to be afraid as he walked towards her.

Mary stood still and unmoving as the wind carried her drenched hair in a wild dance, slapping her across her face from time to time. No emotion showed in her eyes.

Jack stood in front of her, his right arm hanging limply to one side. He looked down at the ground between them, "I'm sorry Mary. Please forgive me for what I have done. Don't be afraid. I wouldn't hurt you."

The only answer was a loud crack from a nearby tree branch being violently ripped from it's trunk. Jack looked up at Mary, but she didn't return his gaze. There was a hollow look in her eyes as she stared through him, her world falling apart. "Mary?" Jack asked cautiously as he reached to brush away several strands of wet black hair sticking to her face.

At Jack's touch, Mary recoiled and reflexively slapped his hand away, "Don't touch me!" she cried out in anguish, "You murder my other! You murdered all of them, didn't you?" she didn't stop long enough for Jack to answer. "How can you touch me? My mother is dead..." Mary suddenly began weeping.

Jack reached out again, "I'm so sorry," he said as he started to embrace her.

Mary shoved Jack, knocking him backwards to the ground. He cried out as his already injured arm twisted painfully beneath him. Mary's outcry hurt Jack more than his arm. Mary's voice escalated to a fevered pitch, "I said don't touch me! Just leave me alone!" Her last words echoed out in a shrill cry of misery.

She turned and began to run away. Jack stood up quickly and followed her. He didn't know where she was going, but he had to get her. He had to stop her. Jack whispered softly to himself as he chased her, "I'll love you, no matter what I do."


	51. Hero of the Broken

Okay… So I lied. This won't be the longest chapter in the story. Because I decided to break it up into separate chapters like I did with the chronicles of Anna. Either way, I think most everyone will agree that this was well worth the wait.

**Chapter 51: Hero of the Broken**

Mary pushed the great oak doors of the church open and slipped inside. "Carter?" She called out as she put her weight against the door to shut back out the wind and rain. The crossbeam normally used to lock the ancient church's entrance was propped up against the frame. Carter obviously couldn't move it in his condition, so but a moment's hesitation, she put it up into place.

"Mary? Is that you?" she heard Carter's voice from one of the front pews. It wasn't easy to hear him over the din of the storm. Inside the stone church, the pounding of the rain and the screaming wind echoed violently in angry protest of the structure. It was far more peaceful outside than in.

Mary walked down the middle of the church to him, her footsteps quickly muting as she stepped onto the crimson carpet that lay the aisle. "Carter! It's terrible."

"What is it dear?"

His head appeared over the back of the front row pew bench, propping himself up better to see her. Mary walked around the front and he collapsed back down into a laying position. Wrapped up into a blanket, and rubbing his eyes, it was obvious to Mary that she had just awakened him, though how he was managing to sleep during this storm was beyond her.

"Jack," she paused, "He killed everyone. He killed my mom." Mary cried.

Carter reached up and pulled Mary close to him, letting her cry on his shoulder. "Are you sure Mary, how did you find out?"

Her voice was oddly slow and calm, despite her wracking sobs, "I watched him leave Lillia's house, where my mother was being held under arrest." She coughed and continued. "His scythe, was covered in blood. His clothes were soaked too."

Carter mind was racing, "Does he know you saw him?" He wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of one hand.

Mary kept talking in the same robotic fashion, "Yes, we stood and stared at one another. And then I ran. Ran. Ran fast. Anywhere. And found myself here."

Carter struggled to follow all this. That would mean Jack was on his way here now. He'd try to kill them. They had to leave now.

"Mary, please listen to me." He stroked her head more firmly, trying to reassure her and get her back thinking coherently as fast as he could. "Jack, he probably followed you. We have to go, now. Jack is stronger than us. We can't overpower him. He will kill us if he finds us here."

"I don't care..."

"What?"

"I love him..."

It took all of Carter's priestly patience not to slap Mary hard. She needed to wake up now, and start thinking straight.

There came a loud banging on the church doors.

Carter knew their time was running out. "Mary, that's Jack. Please, you need to snap out of it. Bring me my wheelchair, hurry!" He pointed Mary frantically in the direction of his wheelchair.

There was a dazed look in Mary's eyes, "That's Jack at the door, isn't it?"

Carter screamed out in frustration. "Listen to me! Listen to me now. Bring me my wheelchair."

"That's Jack. My husband. Who killed my mom. He's here for me now."

Thunder crashed loudly above them, and the banging at the door stopped.

Carter pulled himself off of the bench. He couldn't get through to her. Mary had lost it. Scraping his elbows painfully against the cold stone floor, he dragged himself forward to his wheelchair and pulled himself up into it. "Mary, I'm not going to leave you."

"Jack won't leave me. We'll be together forever."

Carter wrenched his wheelchair forward angrily. "Remember," he told to himself, "she's not herself. Getting angry at her won't solve anything. If I can't get through to her, I'll just have to do something else."

He positioned his wheelchair behind where she was standing, staring at nothing. He reached up and tapped her lower back. "Sit down," he commanded. Without thinking, Mary obliged, sitting down onto his lap. Carter groaned. Mary was a lot heavier than she was when she used to sit on his lap as a child.

"Alright Mary, hold on. We are just going for a little ride," he slowly backed away from the pews, being careful not to tip over with his top-heavy load. "Harvest Goddess, I pray to you, let us get out of this safely."

Agonizingly slow, Carter wheeled them towards the back door of the church. Mary was not making this very easy, "Dear Harvest Goddess, what has this child been eating? Bricks?" At the very least, he was very grateful when his wheels didn't get caught in the aisle's rug.

He tried, unsuccessfully, to reach to doorknob on the back door around Mary. With a sigh, he ordered her mumbling form, "Turn the doorknob!"

Mary obliged, her thoughts and her quiet words refusing to leave Jack. Carter back spun his wheelchair, pulling the door open into the church.

A great flash of lightning silhouetted the form standing just outside the doorway. With a voice filled with pure elation and unequivocal fear, Mary cried as she reached with outstretched arms towards her most beloved and most hated husband, "Jack!"


	52. Martyr for Mary

Eh, getting closer. I bash my head on the keyboard for you. Why won't this story end? Gyah! It will end! I swear it. I know you all want me to hurry up and finish so you can get on with your life.

**Chapter 52: Martyr for Mary**

Jack stood rigidly as Mary embraced him. Somewhere behind her, Carter was desperately trying to get Mary to flee, but Jack didn't care. The shooting pain through his right arm didn't matter. His scythe fell from his loose left hand and clattered to the stone ground. He held his breath as he spoke, "It's alright Mary. I'm so sorry. You've forgiven me?"

Her eyes grew wide, "No!" Mary suddenly recoiled violently, shoving Jack back through into the blistering rain. "No. I can't. Never. No. Murderer." She stumbled backwards onto Carter. "Stay away from me!" Mary screamed at Jack.

She fell weeping onto Carter's lap. He stroked her hair gently and lifted her chin so she was looking at him. "Come on Mary."

Tears streaming down her face, she whispered back, "I love him."

Carter winced, "Goddess... Mary... forgive me." Carter backhanded her as hard as he could. Mary gasped and fell away from him.

Jack lept back through the doorway, snatching his scythe off the ground as he charged Carter, "Don't you dare touch my wife!"

Mary crawled out of the way as Jack's scythe whirled through the air, intent on removing Carter's head from his shoulders. He couldn't escape. The bastard couldn't even move. Jack should have finished him off earlier. But now he would die by Jack's blade like he should have in the first place.

Carter wrenched his wheelchair to one side, shifting his weight in the same direction. It began to tip, but not fast enough. He screamed in his mind as he watched the blade come towards him in slow motion. The entire world seemed to slow down as his death approached.

And then everything dropped away to the side as gravity took control of the wheelchair, pulling it down faster. Carter watched agonizingly as Jack tried to adjust his scythe's path in midswing. With a clank, the blade reflected off the large metal wheels of the wheelchair.

Carter hit the ground with a thud, wheelchair on top of his arm, but he was alive. He breathed deeply when he heard Jack's scythe clatter to the ground.

Then, just as quickly as he had fallen, the wheelchair was righted by Jack. He stood in front of Carter, left hand gripping the chair tightly, rage billowing in his eyes.

Jack grabbed the collar of Carter's priestly robe and lifted him up out of the chair. "Nice trick. You think you can pull it off again?" Jack effortlessly tossed Carter's frail body to one side.

Carter panted heavily, "Jack don't do this. I'm your friend. I'm not a threat to you." He looked behind Jack to where Mary was, holding her head in her hands. Please run Mary. Come to your senses and run away. Save yourself while Jack is distracted.

He stormed towards Carter, clinching his one fist tightly. "You hit my wife you bastard!" Jack screamed at the top of his voice. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, "I think that qualifies you as a threat."

Jack paused, considering something, "You might have noticed that my right arm is quite useless. I don't know what Anna severed, but let me tell you, it hurts like hell. You can't use either of your legs and can't feel them at all." To prove his point, Jack kicked one of Carter's limp legs and watched it flop to the side helplessly, "I think as long as neither of us uses a weapon, that makes this a fair fight."

"Jack, I won't fight you."

"Come on Carter, let's see how the Harvest Goddess backs you. Let's see how the Harvest Goddess's missionary compares with the Shadow's Goddess's avatar."

Carter cringed away from Jack, "What is wrong with you Jack? Please, come on. I won't fight with you."

Jack grinned wickedly, "Then this is going to be pretty easy then."

With a cruel laugh, Jack reached down for Carter and gripped him firmly by the neck. Grunting slightly, he lifted him off of the floor and raised him up till feet left the floor. Muffled choking sounds came from Carter. "Come on! Fight back!" Jack slammed Carter's back into the stone wall. "Fight back you bastard. Fight for your life!"

Carter tried to speak, but couldn't. Jack lowered his grip slightly, pinning him to the wall by his chest instead of his neck. Carter gasped for breath, "I am a priest. I will not fight."

Jack slammed his knee into Carter's groin. He continued to hang unflinchingly. Jack smiled, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You can't feel any pain in your lower body." He shrugged, "Too bad, I guess I'll have to figure out other ways to make you hurt, to make you suffer like I have."

Jack let go of Carter and let him fall to the ground. "It's a shame that I can't use my right arm." He pinned Carter's chest with his knee and punched Carter hard in the face with his left fist, "My right arm is so much stronger." He punched Carter again and felt his nose cave in, "But I guess my left does quite fine."

Carter struggled to remain conscious through the hailstorm of one-handed blows dealt by Jack. The pain didn't matter to him, as long as Mary could get away. He lay as straight as he could, refusing to fight against Jack, ignoring the blood rushing from his face by focusing on Mary. He had to prolong Jacks distraction. Mary could escape if she only would come to her senses. If he lost consciousness, Jack would leave him to go after her. He couldn't let that happen.

"Why won't you fight me? Have you yet resigned to your fate?" Jack laughed wildly. "Beg me to give you mercy. Mercy from the pain I've felt all my life. The pain from them, from everyone hurting me. They all hated me, and the pain runs deep. Now you can feel that pain. You always wanted to help me, well know you are doing it. Feel the pain that I feel inside."

Carter's vision began to blur. Fighting against it didn't slow his descent. He whispered weakly, "Mary…"

A firm, angry voice echoed through the church, "Jack, stop this right now."


	53. Sacrificial Lamb

**Chapter 53: Sacrificial Lamb**

Jack paused, his fist hovering over the beaten Carter. Rising from where he kneeled, Jack turned to face Mary, left hand absently retrieving his scythe before standing fully erect.

"Jack," she spoke his name tenderly, "Why are you doing this?"

Jack reached out with his arms to draw her close to him, "Mary, I'm so sorry."

Stepping backwards, Mary deftly evaded his embrace, "You said that before, yet look what you've done to Carter. If you were really sorry for your actions, you would do more than speak hollow apologies; you would stop hurting all those around you who love you." Mary finished dramatically, gesturing wide with her arms.

Jack looked down and away from Mary's intense yet loving glare, "Don't you see?"

"No, I don't."

"It's too late to stop now."

"It's never too late."

"I can't undo what I've done."

"But you can change the future."

"There is no turning back."

"So," Mary cocked her head to one side, blankly regarding Jack, "Does that mean you intend to kill me too?"

Jack immediately stared aghast at Mary, unbelieving in seriousness presented in her tone and the curious expression of her face, "No! How could you think that! I could never. I... couldn't. I won't!"

Mary laughed weakly and without spirit, "You think I don't know, or else you've forgotten, why you began killing in the first place."

"Mary, please don't..."

"It was because of me, wasn't it?" Mary choked back a sob, the first crack in her newfound composure, "It's really because of me that everyone had died. I rejected you, when you'd been hurt so many times before, when you needed me the most."

"Mary, that's not true."

"Yes it is!" Mary screamed, no longer trying to hold back her onrush of tears, "Because of my heartlessness in your time of need, you killed that night, out of the pain, the pain that I caused you."

Jack quickly hugged Mary, and this time she didn't resist as he comforted her, despite the shaft of Jack's scythe pressing tightly against her back. Mary cried softly onto Jack's shoulder, "I just want it to end. It's too much for me. I'm not strong enough to take this."

"How Mary? How am I supposed to be strong enough if you aren't? Everything is out of control, how am I supposed to stop?" he pleaded.

"Just stop Jack," Mary pulled away slowly, letting her hands gently run down Jack's injured arm, being careful not to hurt him.

He looked away in pain, not from her touch, but from her truth, "It's not that simple,"

"Maybe not Jack. But stopping the killing is the first step towards repairing your life, and mine. A wound cannot heal as long as you continue to reopen it," Mary said, quoting the well-known Harvest Goddess verse.

"And if I stop, pretend it never happened..." Jack asked hopefully.

Mary shook her head slowly and began backing away, "It wouldn't do any good." She gestured at Jack with uncharacteristic gracefulness, "Follow me."

Stopping in front of the pulpit, Mary turned Jack to face the many archaic stain glass window high on the church wall. She smiled slightly as she talked, "Those beautiful patterns," lightning flashed behind the windows, momentarily irradiating them in an array of colors before Mary resumed, "are more than just decoration. They have deep meaning and tell many stories hidden inside those lines, colors, and shapes.

"But there is one message that prevails, and that is that the Harvest Goddess possesses incomprehensible love for all of nature, whether it be plant, insect, animal, or human. But there is something the Harvest Goddess loves most endearingly, above all others, and that is the farmer. Above all other people, the Harvest Goddess loves the farmer. She loves you Jack. Just like I love you.

"But you aren't yourself anymore. You've lost touch with who you really are. You've let your anger consume you, and are no longer the one we love. Yet you are still in there. The man I love..."

Jack leaned towards her, "Mary..."

"Jack, get help. I'm willing to help you. You aren't a bad person, something has just happened to you. Do you understand?"

Jack shook his head, "No. I can't. It won't work. The only thing I can do is run. They will never accept me. Never." He quivered slightly and Mary comforted him.

"So you won't stop? You won't get help?"

"I can't stop. Nobody will help me."

Mary grinned morbidly and stepped backwards, arms to her sides, "Then you have only one other choice..."

"What Mary? What is it I can do?" he said desperately.

"Your only other choice is to kill me." Mary kept talking straight through Jack's protests, "Those are your only choices. Because I can't stand by and let you keep on killing. If that's what you want to do, then I am all that stands in your way," she said, spreading her arms wide in surrender to him, "Take your scythe and kill me."

"I won't!"

"You must either change your ways or kill me."

Jack took his scythe in his left hand and brought it before him, "Don't make me do this Mary."

"It's the only way."

Jack sighed in defeat as he brought the scythe's point against the side of her neck. Mary swallowed hard when she felt the cold steel against her skin. Closing her eyes, she waited. Please, Jack, do the right thing. The point left her neck as the blade came back in it's windup. Mary tensed her body in meaningless preparation for the blow. She wished there was another way.

She held her breath, waiting for her death. Until she heard a loud crack and a scream of pain. Mary opened one eye cautiously, then both as she stared in disbelief. Jack stood still, his scythe broken over his knee, tears streaming down his face in both pain and relief. Quickly nursing his now further injured right arm, he dropped the shaft end of the scythe to the ground where it thudded and rolled away.

He fell down to his knees, face to the floor crying. Mary wrapped her arms around him. "Jack. It's okay, everything will be alright now."

Jack choked up words through his sobs, "I don't deserve this... I'm a monster. What I've done, is unforgivable."

Mary shook her head fiercely, "No Jack, you're wrong. I love you. And I've already forgiven you."

Jack screamed in his mind. No, no one could forgive him. How could anyone forgive him. No. Impossible. Evil. Shadow Goddess. Jack gripped his left hand tight around the blade of the broken scythe. It's not possible. Cannot be forgiven. Cannot hope to seek forgiveness. Lies, all lies. "Liar!" Jack screamed aloud as embraced Mary tightly, piercing her back with the blade, sheathing it in her. Mary gasped in shock and warm blood ran forth coating Jack's hand.

"Liar..."


	54. Redemption

**Chapter 54: Redemption**

Mary gasped as the foreign blade pierced her lower back. Reflexively, she squeezed Jack tighter as the smooth cold metal cut into her warm innards. Hard, solid steel, once it reached it's destination, waited, sheathed inside her, seeming so much as if it cared not so much for anything else but for the warmth of her body to warm it's icy surface.

Jack's voice lowered to a hoarse whisper, "Where is your Harvest Goddess now? Did she abandon you, like she abandoned me?"

She held her breath, not of choice, but because she was unable to force herself to take back in life giving substance. She gave a barely conceptual shaking of her head, not trusting herself to move movement least the damage to her body spread further.

"Like you will abandon me. For all your words of eternal love and forgiveness, can you forgive me now? Love is weak, love dies, and your love for me will die with you. I'll be left alone."

Her tight embrace of Jack was slipping against her will. Mary fought desperately to hold her husband, her murderer, tight, even as she began to feel the nothingness of life escaping her body embracing her in return. Mary took a deep breath, pain slicing through her as the blade shifted slightly inside her. "I love you."

"Liar! You lie to me with your dying breaths."

A violent tremor rocked her body. She knew she was on the verge of passing out. "I've never lied to you. When I swore I would love you no matter what, I meant it."

"Even if you die by my hands?"

"No matter what," a second spasm left Mary limp, her hands fell from his back as she dropped away.

With a stunned look on his face, Jack stared at his dying wife. "No..." he said in a hushed whisper, "What have I done?"

Afraid, he frantically searched for a pulse in her neck. The simple beat that would show she was still alive. Nothing. Nothing at all. Jack screamed, "It has to be there! She has to be alive." He had to save her. A faint beating under his fingers, and that was all he needed. So weak. She was barely alive.

Jack ripped off his shirt. He had to get Mary help. Nothing else mattered. He tore the shirt into strips and carefully removed the blade from her back. Preventing her from losing any more blood was the first priority. He wrapped the torn fabric around her middle and tied it tight. Mary responded with a weak grunt.

"Hold on Mary," he whispered into her ear as he took her and lifted her up in his arms, "I'm going to get you help. I'm going to get us both help. Just you wait and see. Don't die on me. I won't let you!"

He stumbled down the alter steps, cradling Mary in his arms. Every moment he delayed was another moment for Mary's life to slip away. Moving as fast as he could without further harming his precious cargo, Jack turned his back to the church doors and set his shoulders under the archaic crossbeam lock. Groaning as he did so, Jack lifted the beam out of it's holster and let it drop to the ground.

Now freed, the immense doors inched their way open on their own; proof of the hurricane's rapidly growing power. The initial force of wind that blasted through the widening crack near knocked Jack off his feet, but he refused to be budged.

Bracing himself, and with slow measured steps, Jack fought his way through the wind and rain. The road was completely flooded under several inches of water and was now thick sticky mud instead of dirt. With trudging might, he made himself maintain his balance against the hurricane, yanking free his feet as the mud tried to consume them.

The clinic was no good to take Mary to. He remembered well that the doctor and nurse Elli had long since abandoned it for the winery in view of the storm. So that was where Jack headed, to the building deemed most likely to survive the hurricane.

It took Jack a long time to reach the winery, far too long. He didn't know how long; the unrelenting storm made one minute fade away into the next, and he had lost all sense of time. And now, standing in front of the winery's front door, for the first time, Jack realized with terror that Mary had stopped shivering from the cold rain.

He kicked the door, unable to knock with Mary in his arms. "Duke!" He cried out over the din of thunder, "Open up! I need the doctor!" Jack kicked the door again, "I know he's in there! Duke!"

Te door slammed open inwards as it's lock was released. Stumbling inside, Jack collapsed to the ground, completely sapped of all his stamina despite himself. Half the town stood in the room, crowding around the front door with stunned looks upon their faces; the rest of the townsfolk were quickly filtering up the stairs, rapidly filling in the already cramped space.

"Please... I need the doctor. Mary needs help. She's badly injured."

The doctor forced his way to the front, Pulling Elli none-to-gently behind him by her wrist. Duke wrestled the front door back shut and began to move people back downstairs into the cellar.

"Please... You have to save her..." Jack pleaded with the doctor.

The first thing the doctor noticed was how pale Mary's flesh was. He quickly found her pulse, much easier than Jack had. It was very weak, but very rapid. Her skin was cold to the touch, and she was sweating profusely. "Hypovolemic shock," he declared, without any joy in his voice. At those words, Elli began digging through a medical bag she had brought along with her.

"What?" Jack asked in confusion.

"Hypovolemic shock, it's happens when a person loses about a fifth of their blood volume, usually due to a sudden severe injury. I'm assuming that injury is what the bandages are for. She needs a blood transfusion, as fast as we can get one to her, and she needs to be warmed up. Her body doesn't have enough blood in it to pump the oxygen that she needs to live. Her body is going to begin shutting itself down soon."

"Doctor," Elli interrupted, "We don't have any blood transfusion supplies on hand. We only carried a few basic necessities with us, and that wasn't one of them."

"Damnit... Um, okay... Makeshift. We need two hollow needles and a tube."

"We got them. I can break it off of these shot canisters."

The doctor grabbed Elli's hands, "No don't! We can bind together the ends of them together tightly with medical tape and gauze to make the tube airtight. You do that, and that'd give us a double ended needle. It should work just fine for our the transfusion purposes."

Elli nodded and attentively set about the task assigned to her.

"Now, does anyone know Mary's blood type? Get her father, get Basil over here!" Basil quickly answered the doctor's call, "Mary's blood type, do you know it?"

Basil shook his head, "Sorry, I don't. I wish I did."

"Great, simply great," the doctor muttered under his breath, "Alright, since we don't know her blood type, we'll need an O negative donor. Does anyone here know if their blood type is O or not? Pass the message along down into the wine cellar!"

He waited for a moment as he began applying alcohol to the bandaged wound. A resounding chain of no came back upwards at him. The doctor grumbled, "I know I've seen an O negative person in this town somewhere. Elli, isn't your blood type O?"

Elli flushed, "Yeah, I think so, but I don't know the Rh factor. I know I should."

"Well, we'll just have to go on that. I'm sure I remember somewhere back in your papers you being O negative. We'll use you as the donor."

"But what if Elli isn't?" Jack blurted out.

"Well, Elli is O negative, I'm certain of it. But, if I was wrong, there is still a good chance we'd match Mary's blood type. It's better than doing nothing. If we don't get fluids into Mary's bloodstream, she will have no chance of living. I don't have access to an IV, so the only option is a blood transfusion. I don't have access to my hospital records, so Elli is the best bet we have. She's O negative. She has to be."

Jack moaned, "Isn't there anything I can do?"

Basil glared at Jack, "Don't you think you've already done enough?"

He bolted right up, "What's that supposed to me?"

"I think you know damned well what I mean," Basil growled harshly, and he shoved Jack backwards, "Murderer!"

Jack reached for his scythe, and with shameful realization found that it wasn't strapped to his back anymore. "She's my wife. I'm trying to save her!"

"She's my daughter, and if it wasn't for you, she wouldn't be here dying in the first place!"

"Will you two shut up? What's important right now is saving Mary's life!" the doctor said, none to friendlily. He had already sterilized the needles with alcohol. Elli was now lying prone alongside the facedown Mary, with a tourniquet tied tight around both of their upper arms to slow down the racing blood some.

"Now, where was I... Vein to vein..." He slid the needle into Elli's skin, she winced slightly, and blood filled the canister, "Don't want any air..." He tapped at the tip of the free needle till a drop of blood came out the end, insuring there was no air inside it. "Now... carefully," he said as he inserted the other end of the needle into Mary's arm.

Both ends firmly in place, he removed first Mary's tourniquet, then Elli's, "Okay, we should now have a healthy blood flow into Mary. Elli, let me know if you begin to feel faint. Now to stitch up that wound. It won't do any good to put blood in if it just comes right back out. Good thing we at least brought stitching supplies with us!"

He began untying Mary's bandages and examining the wound. "I don't think there is any internal damage. You seemed to have missed hitting any organs, thank goodness. That was very lucky. Jack, I want you to apply pressure to both sides of the wound with your hands to help slow the outward flowing of blood while I stitch her up."

Jack obeyed the doctor's commands and watched helplessly as the doctor stitched Mary back up. Tension in the room stayed at a high boil, as Mary's breathing seemed getting more rapid and jerky.

"Finished," the doctor finally exclaimed, having just knotted down the final stitch, "You can take the pressure off now Jack."

Stiffly, Jack sat back up, "But why isn't her skin getting it's color back? And she seems to be having more trouble breathing now. And her chill is gone, but it's being replaced by a fever."

The doctor paused for a brief second, "Oh no! She's having a transfusion reaction! I didn't notice because I was too intently focused on stitching her up."

Jack grabbed the doctor's collar angrily, "What does that mean?"

The doctor blanched, answering Jack's question before he responded, "Elli isn't O negative. She must be O positive. And Mary must have a negative Rh factor. Which means Elli's blood is incompatible with Mary's. The antibodies in Mary's blood are destroying Elli's blood like it's a bacterial invader. We have to stop the transfusion immediately, and correct the error."

Jack let go, staring firmly into the doctor's eyes, "Do it. Do it now, and you better do it right. I promised Mary I would save her."

Mary convulsed violently and fell back, ripping the needle out of her arm. Elli yelped as the needle was twisted in her arm.

The doctor cursed loudly and checked Mary like before. He swore again, "She's stopped breathing. I need to perform CPR." He leaned over Mary, pinched her nose, and breathed deeply into her mouth twice. She didn't resume breathing. He resumed the CPR with chest compressions.

He repeated the cycle four times before quickly checking her pulse. The doctor announced with a hint of fear in his voice, "Her heart has stopped beating."

Over and over again, the doctor breathed into Mary and performed chest compressions. Every time he checked, Mary heart still lay unbeating. The warmth was quickly leaving her body. The minutes ticked away agonizingly.

Finally, the doctor stood up, "Mary's dead," he declared grimly looking away from father and husband, "I'm sorry, I did all I could."

Jack fell to his knees beside Mary and wept upon her body, "No... Mary... don't leave me."

A swift kick in the side sent Jack sprawling across the room. Basil screamed furiously, "Bastard! This is all your fault!"

"Mary can't die," Jack said, a dazed look on his face as he stood up, "I promised her, we'd both get help."

"Are you listening to me? You murdered my daughter!" He cried out agonizingly as he attacked Jack.

Without paying any heed, Jack rammed his fist into Basil's stomach, crumpling him. "Come on Mary, come on. I'll help you."

The doctor placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, "There is nothing you can do. She's already gone."

Jack shoved the doctor to the side and wrapped his arms around Mary, "No, we'll be together. Me and Mary, together in love forever. She promised. I promised." Gently, he lifted her up into his arms.

Basil groaned, "Stop him!"

Duke spoke out, "No, leave him be before someone else gets hurt. Now isn't the time. Let him go for now."

"But my daughter–"

"–is dead, and nothing will bring her back."

Jack held Mary close to him in his arms, cradling her, oblivious to everyone else. All that mattered was him and Mary. "Don't worry," he whispered to her, "I won't leave you alone. I won't abandon you."

He kicked the door hard, breaking it's already strained latch. Bursting inward, wood shards from the broken frame became deadly projectiles in the wind. Someone screamed as one particularly large shard sliced through their arm.

"Everyone into the cellar!" Duke ordered.

Basil hollered over the roaring wind, "But what about my daughter?"

"Basil, she's lost already. Mary wouldn't want you to die foolishly over her."

Jack strode purposefully into the storm, "Come on Mary. We'll be together. We'll always be together."

The storm's power was rapidly increasing. What had battered him before tore him apart now. Repeatedly he collapsed in the mud, only to stiffly rise again, reassuring Mary the whole time. slowly but surely, he made progress through the storm. Unrelenting, he forced his way forward.

His felt hard ground underneath his shoe. Jack sighed with relief as he stepped up into the brick laid Rose Square. Water rushed around his feet in miniscule waves. The going was much easier now that he was out of the mud.

Almost effortlessly now, Jack carried Mary over towards the short stairway that lead to the beach. The ocean had risen high. The whole beach was underwater. Large waves crashed over the stairs easily, rushing across the cement gleefully.

"I'm sorry Mary. Sorry for what I did. I'll seek penance, like you wanted me to. I'll change it. You were right. It is never too late."

Jack walked down the submerged stairs, the water come up to his chest. The rushing waves crashed over his head. He kept Mary close to his body as he walked outwards. A wave knocked him back, only to drag him outwards again.

Bubbles burst from his mouth, his breath escaping him as he was pulled underwater. He held her close, embracing her tightly. He was rapidly drawn into deeper waters as the hurricane took him in. The shore was left behind and he could no longer feel the ocean's floor beneath him. He kicked weakly with his feet, trying to swim out and away as he sank into the depths.

"I'm coming Mary, my love," he thought to himself, "We'll be together. I'm coming to join you..."

The End


End file.
